


Honey and Scarlet

by Fantastical_Chaos



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantastical_Chaos/pseuds/Fantastical_Chaos
Summary: Something bad happened five years ago. Nobody is sure what happened, but it was enough to tear Asriel's family apart. When a new human comes to town, secrets begin to unravel about what really happened on Mt. Ebott. (AU in which the events of the games never happened.)
Relationships: Asriel & Kris, Asriel & Monster Kid, Frisk & Asriel, Frisk/Monster Kid (Undertale)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey, that girl over there is really cute.”

Asriel began to turn his attention towards Kidd but stopped when he saw a blurry green orb hurling through the air towards the other monster.

“Heads up!” Asriel shouted as he tried to come between Kidd and the fast moving target. However, he was a fraction too slow, and the tennis ball slammed right into Kidd’s face. The lizard monster was knocked off his feet from the force and dropped to the concrete with an uncomfortable thud. Asriel winced at the red mark now imprinted on his best friend’s face.

“Another point for us!” Catty, a large purple cat monster, exclaimed.

“You guys are, like, totally not in the game today,” Bratty, a skinny alligator monster, added as she walked to the other side of the court to retrieve the ball.

Ignoring them, Asriel knelt beside Kidd’s crumpled form and asked, “Are you okay?”

“No,” Kidd answered with a moan. “I can’t feel my arms.”

Asriel had to resist rolling his eyes. “You don’t have arms.”

“WHAT?!” Kidd bolted upright, looked at himself, and cried out. “How long have my arms been missing?!”

“Since birth. Now would you please stop being so dramatic? You’re causing a scene.”

“Sorry, Kidd.” Catty approached the duo and helped Kidd to his feet while Bratty returned with the tennis ball. “You should know better than to take your eye off the ball when playing against us.”

“Yeah, my fault.” Kidd sheepishly grinned. “That girl was really cute though. Totally worth getting hit in the face with one of your mad fast balls for.”

“Tch, I doubt that.” Catty slid her eyes towards the crowd of females and the occasional guys that typically form whenever Asriel played against anyone. Asriel didn’t have to ask to know she was debating setting a no more playing tennis on campus rule. Not that he blamed her when he was far sicker of the attention he received than she was.

“From now on,” Asriel chuckled as he lightly shoved Kidd in the shoulder, “you play with side shield glasses. You get distracted too easily.”

“Hey, shut up,” Kidd replied, returning the friendly shove with his shoulder.

“Aw, shoot, Bratty, we need to scat,” Catty said after her best friend returned with the tennis ball. “I just remembered we promised to help Alphys set up for tonight’s lecture.”

“That’s right, we did!” Bratty tossed Asriel the ball, who caught it with ease. “We’ll finish this another day.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Asriel tried to not groan when both Catty and Bratty walked over to kiss him on the cheek. They liked to make a show in front of Asriel’s fan club that they were his friends and the others were not. Some days it was amusing, but today was not one of those days.

“Please don’t do that again for a while,” Asriel muttered as they pulled away. “You know today’s the anniversary.”

“All the more reason to keep those girls away from you,” Catty replied, but she nodded all the same to convey that she would respect Asriel’s wishes.

“Come on, Catty,” Bratty said, dragging the other monster away by the arm, “let’s shoo these girls away while we go. Let them know we’re not letting them drool over our Azzy while we’re not around.”

After wishing the girls farewell, Asriel watched them scare away the audience that grew over the course of the game. Asriel didn’t really see any of the girls. He hadn’t really noticed them in a long time, and he especially didn’t notice them now. Perhaps he shouldn’t have given in to Kidd’s insistence they go outside and play games today when where Asriel really should have been was home with his mother.

“Hey, you okay, man?” Kidd asked, dragging Asriel back to reality.

Shaking his head, Asriel answered, “No.”

“Oh, so my plan to make you feel even a little bit better didn’t work, did it?”

“I appreciate your trying, but nothing can make me feel better today. It’s been five years. If I don’t feel even a bit more functional by this point, then maybe I never will.”

“Understandable.” Kidd draped his tail, which still had the racket attached to the tip, on Asriel’s shoulder. “Sorry for forcing you out of the house.”

“No, thanks for trying anyway. I would just be moping away right now if not for you.”

Kidd grinned, showing off his long, crooked teeth. The dinosaur monster was just as tall as Asriel but only half as thick. Although not the strongest monster around, Kidd was definitely one of the kinder and more understanding of the bunch in Asriel’s life.

It was Asriel returned the smile that Kidd’s gaze flickered back to the crowd Bratty and Catty should have dispersed. Kidd’s grin fell as he turned back to Asriel and whispered, “That cute girl’s still there.”

“The one you accept getting slammed by Catty’s fast ball for?”

“Uh, duh. Look at her. Tell me you don’t think she’s cute.”

Looking in the direction Kidd pointed out, Asriel did see one single girl left. Either she was immune to Bratty and Catty’s intimidation, or she only walked away far enough to come back again when the coast was clear. Regardless, she was there now, and she appeared to be watching Asriel and Kidd.

The girl, a human girl at that, looked to be about their age. Her skin was a deep brown, and her chocolate mane was cut to her shoulders. She wore a dark blue overall dress over a light green T-shirt and black converse. A jean purse hung over her shoulder. Sunglasses were perched on her nose.

“She’s totally checking you out,” Kidd added, tearing his gaze away from the girl. “Man, it would be nice if at least one girl looked at me the way they all looked at you.”

Asriel didn’t respond. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses the girl wore, but he was sure they made eye contact. Either way, she knew he caught her looking. Her tensed posture gave away as much. Perhaps he should have let her go, but Asriel decided to make her squirm a bit first.

“Hey, you in the blue dress!” Asriel called, and he internally snickered when he saw the girl flinch. “Yeah, you. Get over here!”

For a moment, the girl stood still. Asriel imagined that she was debating with herself whether to go over there or to just walk away and never watch them again. Most girls weren’t comfortable being called out like this, that was why it surprised Asriel when the girl nodded to herself and began walking over.

“Did you enjoy our little match?” Asriel asked when the girl was within earshot.

The girl removed her sunglasses and put them on the top of her head, revealing rich honey-colored eyes hidden beneath. Chewing on her lower lip, the girl answered when she stopped in front of him, “Yes, I did.”

 _Yes, a squirmy girl after all._ Asriel smirked.

Turning towards Kidd, she asked, “Are you okay? It looked like it really hurt to have a tennis ball slam into your face like that.”

Pleased the girl acknowledged him, Kidd widely grinned and answered, “I’m fine! Nothing to worry about here. I have a thick skull.”

Not giving Kidd a chance to say more, Asriel cut in. “Mind telling us your name, sweet cheeks?”

Those same sweet cheeks took on a red tint. However, instead of getting flustered, the girl narrowed her eyes. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me by any ridiculous pet names, thank you very much.”

“Oh, my apologies.” Asriel had plans to frustrate her further, but Kidd wasn’t about tormenting girls, even if they were the ones stalking Asriel first.

“Ignore him,” Kidd told her, rolling his large eyes. “He’s just cranky because he didn’t have his afternoon nap.”

_Note to self: Elbow Kidd later for that one._

Offering his tail, tennis rack still affixed, Kidd introduced himself. “The name’s Kidd.”

“Wait, your name is Kidd?”

“Yep. My parents are cruel people. Can you imagine being a kid named Kidd? The humans always called me ‘Monster Kid.’ School playgrounds to this day are still my least favorite place on the planet.”

“I get it. I once knew a guy named Guy. Ever since, I have not complained about my own name.” The girl accepted Kidd’s offered tennis racket and shook it. “I’m Frisk.”

 _Don’t be Frisky, Frisk._ Asriel thought and chuckled at his own bad joke. Kidd interrupted him from saying anything of the sort aloud.

“The grouch is Asriel.”

“I’m perfectly capable of introducing myself, y’know.”

“Then might I suggest participating in the conversation instead of standing there all menacingly?”

“He’s trying to be menacing?” Frisk looked at Asriel and snorted. “You’re not doing a good job.”

Asriel crossed his arms. “That’s because if I went all god of hyper death on you, you would tremble where you stand.”

“You don’t scare me.”

“Mighty big words for a little lady.”

Even though she only came up to Asriel’s chin and had to look up at him, Frisk didn’t hesitate to say, “Careful. It’s the little packages that pack the biggest punch.”

 _Not so squirmy after all._ Before Asriel could reply, Kidd furrowed his brows and studied Frisk further.

“Yo, Frisk,” Kidd began, “sorry to ask, but have we met before? You look familiar.”

Now that Kidd brought it up, Asriel was hit with that same sense of recognition. Deep within his gut, he knew he had seen her face before. The question was where.

Frisk quickly looked back and forth between Asriel and Kidd. Clutching her purse strap, Frisk said, “You must be mistaking me for someone else. I just arrived at New Home last week.”

“Really?” Asriel tilted his head to the side. “What brings you to town?”

“I was thinking of attending Ebott University in the fall. I thought I might as well visit the town first and see if I liked it before deciding to move here.”

“Did you just graduate?”

“No. I graduated last spring but took a gap year.”

“Oh, so you’re our age.” Kidd grinned. “Well, we don’t have a lot of humans on campus, but this is a great school if being around so many monsters doesn’t bother you.”

“Not in the slightest. I’m from Waterfall.”

“Oh, so you’re practically local.” Kidd coked his head to the side, possibly studying Frisk further. “Are you sure we haven’t met before? Or at least passed each other on the street? I can almost swear I know your face from somewhere.”

“You know, I do get that a lot.” Frisk smiled, but something about her demeanor seemed forced and her posture stiff. “Perhaps I just have one of those faces.”

“Perhaps,” Asriel agreed, but Frisk’s body language left him unsure.

“Since I’m new to town and all,” Frisk then began slowly, as if she was verbally defusing a bomb, “would you mind showing me around?”

Although she didn’t address Asriel, he could tell from how her eyes lingered on him for a moment that it was him she asked. This wasn’t the first time a girl tried to spend time with him by requesting he show her around. It wouldn’t be the last.

“Actually, I need to get going,” Asriel replied, “but Kidd here”—he smacked the other monster on the back—“would be happy to show you around. Isn’t that right, Kidd?”

“Wait, what?!” Now it was Kidd’s cheeks that darkened a few shades. For all his complaints on how the “cute girls” always preferred Asriel, Kidd was absolute garbage when it came to actually trying to talk to any of them.

However, Asriel urged further, “You don’t mind just Kidd showing you around, do you, Frisk?”

Frisk blinked, but then she smiled. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

_Hey, she actually doesn’t seem disappointed I’m bailing. That’s new. Kidd better not screw this up for himself._

“Great! I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Kidd. It was nice meeting you, Frisk.”

“It was nice meeting you, too, Asriel.” Frisk offered her hand, and Asriel stared at it for a moment.

If he didn’t shake her hand, he was being rude. Part of him considered being rude anyway. However, his mother would sit him down and give him a lecture about always being polite, especially to a lady, if he didn’t shake Frisk’s hand and Kidd decided to alert Asriel’s mother to Asriel’s behavior.

Considering Kidd was going to get Asriel back for this, he decided against giving the dinosaur monster any ammunition.

So, with great reluctance, Asriel accepted the hand and shook it. Frisk had a firm grip for a woman, that was sure. The way she clutched Asriel’s hand reminded him of—

“If you decide to attend Ebott University,” Asriel said, dropping Frisk’s hand as if she burned his, “it would be great seeing you around.”

“Likewise,” she returned, seeming to think nothing of Asriel’s reaction.

Shaking his head, Asriel bade Kidd a farewell and went on his way. He grabbed his tennis bag and threw it over his shoulder. As Asriel walked away, he couldn’t put off the girl’s strange familiarity.

It nagged the back of his mind as he tried with no success to figure out where he saw her before. Although she insisted to be new in town, hers was not a new face.

 _Perhaps she has relatives I’ve met,_ Asriel reasoned with himself. _She’s from Waterfall, and Waterfall isn’t that far away. It isn’t too much a stretch to assume she has relatives in town who look similar to her._

As reasonable as the explanation was, Asriel had a gut feeling that this wasn’t the case.

* * *

_Did he really just do that? Did he really just leave me alone with this girl?_

Of course Asriel did. This wasn’t the first time he left a girl in Kidd’s care. It wasn’t something Asriel did often, but it never ceased to cut down Kidd’s confidence when the girls either shut down and feigned interest after Asriel left or just walked away altogether.

That was why it surprised Kidd when Frisk smiled at him and said, “So, where should we start? The park is easy enough to navigate, but I’m not sure where the library or admission buildings are. I tried pulling up a campus map on my phone. It’s . . . been less than helpful, I’ll admit.”

“Wait,” Kidd frowned, “you actually want _me_ to show you around?”

Frisk frowned. “Do you not want to show me around? If that’s the case, maybe I can—”

“No, no,” Kidd interrupted, waving his tail in the air. “I just supposed you wanted Asriel to show you around, and since he noped out on you . . .”

Kidd trailed off. _Man, can I sound any more insecure?_

However, Frisk smiled. “Oh, who needs him? It would just be nice if _someone_ could at least point out the basics. I don’t need a grand tour or anything.”

Laughing, Kidd pointed his tennis racket tail in one direction and said, “To your right, we have the locker room. If you ever want to shower there, keep in mind it only showers cold water.” He pointed in the opposite direction. “And to your left, we have that memorial site where Asriel accidentally set the lawn on fire his first semester at Ebott University.”

“Why did he set the lawn on fire?”

“He was showing off fire magic when a frisbee hit him from behind. The force knocked him over, and his fire fell to the ground with him. It only burned for a whole minute and destroyed a good chunk of the grass before he remembered he could extinguish the flames just as easily as he could create them.”

Frisk giggled. “As for the rest of the campus?”

“Of course.” Kidd walked to retrieve his bag, and Frisk followed behind. “However, I don’t think I can show you much beyond pointing out which building is which. Almost everything closes after five during the summer semesters.”

“Oh, I think I remember seeing that online. May through August is summer break, or summer semester for those who choose to take classes.”

“Yep. Asriel and I decided to spend summer taking Pro. Alphys’s biology courses. She’s a great teacher. If you decide to come here, I highly recommend you take her classes.”

Since everything was, as Kidd pointed out beforehand, closed, the “tour” mostly consisted of him walking Frisk around the campus and pointed out what each building was. After their walk, Frisk pointed out the admission building and library to make sure she knew which was which. After Kidd assured her she got it down, Frisk laughed and pointed at the patch in the park.

“Where Asriel set fire on school property.”

“Looks like you learned all the important landmarks here. There’s nothing else I can show you.”

“Actually, can you show me a good place to get coffee?” Frisk asked. “I can’t find anywhere that sells decent coffee, and I’m about ready to kill for a latte that actually taste like a latte.”

“If you’re looking for coffee, I know a place,” Kidd answered. “Muffet’s Café has not only the best coffee, but also the best cookies, doughnuts, cakes, brownies, and chocolate in all of New Home!”

Frisk’s eyes lit up. “I haven’t heard of this place. Where is it? Can we go now?”

“Eh, I don’t see why not.”

As they waited for the bus to take them to that side of town, Kidd checked his phone while Frisk checked hers. He was about to gather the courage to ask to exchange numbers when Kidd noticed all the new messages he had. They were all from Asriel.

Brows furrowed, Kidd read through them all. Frist Asriel asked how long Frisk stuck around after he left, did she turn out to be awful, and was Kidd mad at him. Then Asriel got the idea that maybe Kidd was still hanging out with Frisk, that was why he wasn’t responding. Asriel started teasing that maybe there was a cute girl interested in Kidd after all. His last text left Kidd’s cheeks and neck on fire.

_If you’re enjoying her company, maybe you should consider asking her out. ;)_

“Everything okay?”

“Wha—! I mean, yes. Everything is fine.” Kidd slipped his phone back into his bag. “Spam texts.”

“Oh, I hate those.”

While they kept waiting for the bus, Kidd tried with no success to think of something to talk about. _This is starting to get extremely awkward. C’mon, Kidd, think! There’s got to something to talk about. Something. Anything!_

It was Frisk who broke the silence. “The mountain is crying tonight.”

Kidd blinked at Frisk before looking straight ahead. Mt. Ebott, for which the university was named, loomed in the distance. The mountain was an hour drive from where they were. It was once a popular place to hike and camp. Not anymore.

 _I wonder if anyone she knew . . ._ Kidd quickly discarded the thought from his mind. It was too morbid a topic to ask someone he had just met.

Especially since even if her answer was no, his would still be yes.

* * *

Asriel had texted him three times since Kris explained why he wasn’t home with his mother and older brother. Asriel insisted that Kris needed to be there with them. They needed to mourn together as a family.

Kris had plenty of bitter responses to Asriel’s pleas, but he restrained himself. Lashing out would do no good. It wouldn’t change anything. All he would succeed in doing is inflicting further pain to his already hurting family. Though that didn’t stop him from complaining to the others.

“‘As a family.’ Tch!” Kris put his phone away without responding. “What about Dad? Why is he left out in all of this?”

His friends tore their eyes away from their textbooks to look at him. Carla, identical in appearance with her older brother except she was pink and purple and had rounded spikes instead of pointed, looked at Kris with pity. Susie, a dinosaur monster like Carla except possessing arms and hair and no spikes, looked at Kris with . . . something. It was hard to tell with her messy brown hair covering the top half of her face. Kris often wondered how Susie was able to see where she was going.

“Why not spend some time with your dad, then?” Carla suggested, her pencil held in her teeth. It appeared she was the only one of the three of them actually doing her homework.

“Kuz his mom will blow,” Susie replied for Kris. Although her textbook and algebra problems were on display, Susie didn’t get past the first question on her worksheet: her name. “They haven’t been able to be in the same room together since the divorce. Like hell she’s gonna just let Kris spend time with the man she hates.”

“But he’s Kris’s father.”

“Good luck explaining that to her.” Kris sunk deeper in the booth. His own worksheet was covered in more doodles than numbers. After school let out, he tried to talk all of his friends into doing their homework together at Muffet’s, and only Ralsei had to decline. Susie and Carla agreed, and Kris didn’t doubt it was only because they knew he only looked for an excuse to put off going home.

Which was further confirmed when Asriel’s text tone went off again and Kris groaned loud enough to gain the attention of other patrons.

“Maybe put that thing on silent?” Susie suggested, pointing at Kris’s bag.

“I shouldn’t,” Kris replied, shaking his head. “Ignoring a text from Asriel is one thing. Missing one from Mom is another thing entirely.”

Wanting to change the subject, Kris picked his pencil back up and pretended to work out the next algebra problem. “Did any of you see her today?”

Neither girl needed to ask whom. “No,” Carla stated as Susie asked, “You think this is a good thing?”

“It’s honestly a bit creepier than I thought it’d be, that’s for sure,” Kris answered. “First this woman spends every day last week waiting outside the school, and then today she’s just gone.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell someone about this?” Carla frowned. “If not your parents, then Asriel perhaps? Or maybe even a teacher? We really shouldn’t have strangers lingering on school property in the first place. The fact this woman spent the whole week watching and _following_ you too . . .”

Kris shook his head. “My family would freak out if they knew someone was following me. I can almost swear Mom would pull me out of school, start homeschooling me, and never let me out of her sights if she knew.”

“Well,” Susie drawled, “what of a teacher? They have to be good for something other than teaching boring classes and giving us mountains of homework.”

“A teacher would only tell my parents. Trust me, not a good idea.”

Carla frowned. “C’mon, Kris, after what happened with—”

“Which is exactly why my parents don’t need to know,” Kris interrupted. He looked to Susie, “Besides, I have the best bodyguard around.”

“That you do.” Susie made a show of punching her open palm, but Kris knew her better than that.

The first time he noticed this woman, Kris thought nothing of it. She just happened to be going the same way he was. When it happened the second day, he understandably grew nervous. By day three and he saw this woman outside their school, Susie immediately sensed something was wrong. Kris asked Susie to walk with him as he quietly explained what was going on. The next two days, Susie took it upon herself to be his personal bodyguard as he walked home. Neither told Carla until that fifth day, surprised to learn that Carla had indeed noticed this same woman on campus but not realizing she followed Kris for a mile or two on his walk home. Ralsei was the only one who remained oblivious. Considering what a worry wart he could be, it was probably for the best he didn’t know.

“Okay,” Carla relented, “but if she starts showing up again, you need to tell someone. Kris, this is extremely creepy.”

“You don’t need to tell me.” Kris snorted. Determined to get at least some of his homework done before he inevitably had to return home, Kris returned his attention to the doodled up worksheet. A few minutes and a couple solved problems later, Kris looked up and considered ordering another hot chocolate. It was just then new customers entered.

“Don’t react,” Kris said softly as he forced his eyes back onto his homework, “but that woman just walked in.”

“Should I bite her face off?” Susie asked. “Because I totally will.”

“Not with an audience,” Carla answered, pencil back in her mouth. Then, “Kris, what is it? You look pale. Is she staring at you or something?”

“N-no,” Kris muttered after stealing a third glance to make sure he saw what he thought he saw. “It’s just . . .”

“Just what?”

“Carla, I’m not sure how to tell you this. . . .”

“Oh my God, Kris, you’re scaring me. What is it?”

“The woman . . .” Kris swallowed. “The woman is here with your brother.”


	2. Chapter 2

“This place is so cute!” Frisk breathed as she and Kidd entered Muffet’s Café.

“Really?” Kidd looked around to make sure they walked into the right place. “It always looks like it’s decorated for Halloween here.”

With cobwebs Kidd desperately hoped were fake in the corners and blacked-out windows, it wasn’t the brightest place to grab a bite to eat in New Home. That place would be Grillby’s. The diner took advantage of the log cabin aesthetic to draw in a calmer crowd. Muffet’s, on the other hand, worked with a purple and black color scheme and kept a mildly scary look to attract younger customers. Kidd liked the food and all, but this wasn’t his favorite place when it came to atmosphere.

Yet Frisk seemed to really like it. Smiling, she took in the café. When she was satisfied, she pointed at a booth and suggested they sit there.

After they ordered at the counter and sat down as they waited for their drinks, Frisk seemed to study the vase on the table. In Morticia Addams style, the only flowers in it were thorny rose stems with the rose part of the flowers cut off. Kidd was about ninety percent positive those “flowers” were some sort of safety violation.

“I do prefer my flowers with the petals,” Frisk muttered before pushing the vase near the wall, away from her and Kidd.

“And without thorns,” Kidd added. “There’s no way Muffet got those from Asgore’s shop. All his roses have the thorns removed.”

“Asgore?”

“Right, you’re new to town. Asgore is Asriel’s dad. He owns the biggest plant nursery in New Home. Even had the most beautiful home garden too, before he and Asriel’s mom split. Since then, he’s tried to keep something of a garden in his apartment. Last time I was over there with Asriel, he asked us to help him rearrange his plants to make the most of the little sunlight that enters through the windows. The only interesting thing to happen that day was I accidentally spilled some soil in my shirt and spent the next few days trying to clean the dirt out of my scales.”

Although Frisk’s eyes remained locked on the rose stems, her smile as he talked and giggle at the end told Kidd she listened. She didn’t have a response, but her small smiled remained. For some reason, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the vase.

“Do you like flowers?” Kidd asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“No,” Frisk answered. She frowned and shook her head. “I mean, I like living flowers. Once you cut them from their roots for the sake of putting them in a vase, they’re left with no other purpose than to wilt and die a slow death.”

“That’s . . . a little morbid.”

“I’m not really sure how much of that is my own opinion.”

“Well,” Kidd tried, “you’ll definitely like Asgore then. He might not be against flower bouquets, but he does encourage potted plants to the point you have to talk him into letting you buy a bouquet.”

Reminded of a story, Kidd chuckled and began, “One time, when we were kids, Asgore came to our school and spoke to our class about responsibility and stuff. Our homework for that week was to take care of a flower – Asgore donated from his own garden. He returned a week later to evaluate the condition of our flowers. Yeah, turns out we weren’t a very responsible class.”

Frisk barked a laugh. Turning to Kidd, Frisk almost smirked as she asked, “Wait, so the whole class let their flowers die?”

“Yeah,” Kidd answered. Then he slowly corrected himself. “Well, all of us except this one girl. I think she had plant magic or something, because her flower was even bigger and prettier than when Asgore gave it to her! We all asked how she did it. I’ll never forget her answer.”

“Which was?”

“‘Water and sunlight, duh.’”

While Frisk laughed, Kidd forced his smile to remain on his face. Things were different then. They were much, much simpler. Then everything changed. New Home hadn’t been the same since.

“I admit, I look at a plant and it dies,” Frisk said, her smile never falling. “Whatever the opposite of a green thumb is, that’s what I have.”

“Looks like you and I have something in common then,” Kidd replied. “So anyway, why Ebott University? I know Waterfall’s got a few good colleges. Do you have family here?”

Now Frisk’s smile fell. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “My parents died a couple years ago. Car accident. Dad swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. Mom was in the passenger seat. Nobody knows what he tried to avoid hitting.”

“Crap, I’m so sorry I asked.”

“No, don’t be. If I do decide to go to school here, you were going to find out eventually. Better sooner rather than later, right?”

Kidd didn’t know how to respond. It was clear to him Frisk didn’t want to dwell on the topic, but he didn’t know how to change the subject without feeling like a turd. Fortunately, he was saved from making any potential mistakes.

“Hey, nerd,” Carla greeted as she came up to Kidd and Frisk’s booth. “Who’s this?”

Kidd’s brows shot up his head. “Carla, what are you doing here?”

“Kris, Susie, and I came here to do homework.” Carla used her tail to point in the direction of her friends.

Kidd turned around and saw Kris sheepishly wave at him. Susie’s back was to them. When he turned back around, Kidd saw Frisk studying the teen, also the only other human in the café.

Blinking, Frisk turned to Carla and offered her hand. “Hi, I’m Frisk. You’re Kidd’s sister?”

“Yes, I am. Name’s Carla.” Carla accepted Frisk’s hand with her tail. For some reason, Carla seemed pretty reluctant, as if touching Frisk would burn her. Kidd wondered why Carla acted so cautious taking Frisk’s hand when Carla wasn’t shy.

Frisk, however, was all smiles as she said, “It’s nice to meet you, Carla.”

“Likewise.” Kidd knew Carla didn’t mean it, but Frisk seemed none the wiser.

_What’s Carla’s problem?_

“Frisk was watching Azzy’s and my match against Catty and Bratty,” Kidd explained.

There was a flicker behind Carla’s eyes. “Interesting,” she mused.

“Since she’s new in town, I offered to show her around,” Kidd continued, unsure what his sister was contemplating. “Says she’s thinking about starting Ebott University in the fall.”

“I’m actually considering it now,” Frisk added in. “New Home is quite lovely, and everyone seems so nice.”

“Well, New Home isn’t called the friendliest town in the area for nothing.” Carla squinted her eyes. “Y’know, you look awfully familiar. Have I seen you around before?”

“Hey, I said the same thing!” Kidd exclaimed. “Azzy thinks she looks familiar, too. Kind of funny since Frisk isn’t from around here. Hahaha.”

“Funny indeed,” Carla agreed, her brows furrowing now.

Kidd turned his attention to Frisk to find her hugging herself. There was a smile on her face, but somehow it didn’t look as natural as the one she wore when they talked about flowers. Frisk must have really not liked being so familiar to everyone in a town she had never been to before.

“Well, I’m going to back to sit with my friends,” Carla then announced just as the waitress carrying Kidd’s and Frisk’s orders approached. “See you at home, loser. It was nice meeting you . . . Frisk.”

After Carla had gone and they had received their drinks, Kidd turned to Frisk and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that was all about. Carla doesn’t usually act this way.”

Stirring her latte with her straw, Frisk replied by asking, “Does she do that with all the girls you hang out with?”

_Since Frisk is the only girl I’ve hung out with solo, maybe she’s got a point._

Kidd showed off what he hoped was a charming smile and answered, “Only the cute ones.”

When Frisk froze with her lips slightly parted, Kidd began internally cursing himself. _Real smooth, Romeo. I sounded like a total dork. I’m not half as good at this as Asriel. Maybe that means I shouldn’t try to act like Asriel? Then who should I act like? Myself? That would just be sad._

However, Frisk giggled. “And here I thought I was the only one who likes what I see,” she replied oh so smoothly it took Kidd a moment to realize what she said.

_Did . . . Did Frisk just flirt with me?_

“Are you a star?” Frisk continued. “Because you’re a sight to behold.”

Frisk started laughing. “Oh, wait, I got another one.” She took a deep breath. “If you and I were socks, we would make a great pair!”

Kidd’s face was on fire. Scratching the back of his neck, he stuttered, “We-well, I ca-can see you’re pretty good at this.”

“Call it a gift.” Frisk winked, and Kidd’s face burned even hotter. Picking up her latte, Frisk announced, “Now, the moment of truth.”

When she took a sip, Frisk’s eyes widened as she pulled the drink away. She stared at it a moment before slowly declaring, “This is the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life.”

“Told you this place was the go-to for coffee,” Kidd managed to say before taking a sip from his own drink. “The white chocolate mocha is really good, too, if you want a recommendation for the next time you visit.”

Frisk considered this for a moment. “Okay, I’ll definitely be coming back here to try it. Say, are you doing anything tomorrow?”

Heart jumping to his throat, Kidd said, “I have class tomorrow morning, but I’m free after that. Why?”

“I was wondering if you’re willing to show me around campus when it’s actually open,” Frisk replied. “Give me proper tour of the place and everything. If you don’t mind, that is.”

“No! I mean, uh, no, I don’t mind at all. It would be nice to spend more time with you. Get to know you and all.”

Smiling at her latte, Frisk tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she said, “So, tell me, who’s the one professor I wouldn’t want to take at Ebott University?”

* * *

The rest of the night, Kris felt as if he ate a rock. The woman who spent the past week stalking him was with Kidd. She was _flirting_ with his older brother’s best friend. After, Carla informed him, she watched Asriel’s and Kidd’s tennis match.

There was no way this was a coincidence.

From what Kris assumed, this same woman took interest in Asriel, who dumped her onto the more willing Kidd. She flirted with Kidd in order to keep the connection growing. The closer she got to Kidd, the closer she would inevitably get to Asriel.

Kris was mostly certain he was overthinking this, but that didn’t stop him for worrying.

For one reason or another, this woman was interested enough in him to spend a week following him home after school. It couldn’t have been too much a stretch to think she moved onto Asriel next. This woman’s methods . . . were creepy at best.

Most people just outright approached his family, after all.

“Kris, welcome home,” Toriel, sitting in her reading chair with a novel in paws, greeted when her younger son stepped through the doorway. “Dinner’s in the microwave.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“How are you doing?”

 _Terrible, like the rest of us._ “Fine enough. Hey, where’s Asriel?”

“Doing homework in his room. He retired after we finished washing the dishes. Why?”

“I just wanted to talk to him about something.” After Kris turned on the microwave, he walked upstairs to Asriel’s room. His plans to keep this woman’s strange appearance to himself died when he saw her with Kidd and Carla told him and Susie what she learned about the human. Whatever this woman wanted, it was probably best if Asriel knew to keep his eyes open.

“Come in,” came from the other side of the door after Kris knocked. He entered and closed to door behind him, earning raised brows from Asriel.

“What’s up?” Asriel asked, turning off the music he played while doing homework and spinning in his swivel chair to face his younger brother.

“There’s something I should have told you,” was how Kris began to answer, “so please don’t be mad, okay?”

Speaking softly in case their mother walked past, Kris told Asriel about the woman who spent every day the past week sitting outside his school, about how she followed him a few blocks as he walked home, about her absence earlier that day, about seeing her with Kidd at Muffet’s, and about Carla learning that this same woman watched Asriel and Kidd play tennis. While he spoke, Asriel listened without interruption. However, that didn’t stop his face from dropping with every sentence Kris spoke.

“I think she’s some aspiring reporter or journalist or something,” was how Kris finished the story. “She probably thinks if she tries to become friends with the family or something, we’ll be open to talking to her about . . .”

Kris couldn’t bring himself to finish. Nobody could. It was an unspoken rule to never speak of what happened, even if the impact let a weight that has never begun to lighten.

Frowning, Asriel rested his chin in his hand as he thought aloud. “Frisk is from Waterfall, one of the other regions that was affected. Of course she would know who we are. However, her methods of getting close really are creepy. By why? There’s years’ worth of statements out there. Does she really think there’s more we could possibly have to say?”

Kris, who sat on Asriel’s bed while telling his brother about the woman, suggested, “She’s still deciding what university to go to, right? Maybe she’s trying to interview us for a paper she wants to submit to a university she really wants to get into. Fits with my reporter theory.”

“Just because something fits with your theory doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“Look, I’m just trying to figure out a motive for her so I can feel better about this. There’s a reason I haven’t told Mom or Dad yet.”

“Which is something you should consider doing.” Asriel rested his hands on his stomach and looked at the ceiling. “When you call Dad tonight, ask him to pick you up from school tomorrow. I don’t care what excuse you give him: you want to help him at the nursery, you want to spend the night with him, whatever.”

“Like Mom will ever agree to that.”

“Well, she’s going to have to. We’ll work together to come up with an excuse or something. I don’t want to risk anything happening to you too.

“While you’re with Dad, I’m going to help Kidd show our new friend around. I’ll figure out what she’s really doing here. If I text you the codeword, you tell Dad in the best way you can manage to break it to him. Nobody is going to exploit our family. Not on our watch.”

Since it seemed like a good enough plan, Kris nodded. Then he asked, “What’s the codeword?”

“I don’t know. Ketchup?”

Kris snorted. “Ketchup? Really?”

“You got something better, lil’ brother?”

“Ask me if I touched your CDs or something,” Kris answered. “Anyone who happens to read my phone over my shoulder will find a text like that more believable than you pathetically trying to naturally fit ‘ketchup’ in whatever message you try to cook up.”

Asriel chuckled. “This is why you’re the brains of the operation and I’m the muscle.”

Grinning, Kris replied, “Yeah, we make a pretty good team.”

“And she often told us that the two of us together didn’t make up half the brain of a cabbage.”

Although it was meant lightheartedly, both Kris’s and Asriel’s smiles fell at Asriel’s last comment. Both sat in somber silence, looking everywhere but each other. Kris’s eyes burned as he tried with no success to swallow the lump in his throat.

“Kris?” Both boys jumped when they heard their mother’s voice as she knocked on the door. “Are you still in there? Your food finished heating up ten minutes ago.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Kris replied, “Rei and I got caught up talking about the new Delta Rune game.”

“That’s all right,” their mother’s calm voice said from the other side. “Just put your plate in the dishwasher when you’re done.”

“I will, Mom.”

“And Asriel,” Toriel said, apparently getting use out of her sons being together to address both, “don’t forget to meet me at the library tomorrow. I need your help carrying the books I check out for the children, okay?”

“The reminder is set in my phone, Mom,” Asriel replied. “Two o’clock, right?”

“Yes. Thank you, my child.”

After Toriel’s retreating footsteps told them she had gone, Kris turned to Asriel and said, “I get out of school at two. How will you be able to monitor Frisk, if that is even her real name, if you’re helping Mom at the library?”

“I’ll figure something out.” Asriel turned back to his desk and slowly turned up his music. “Now go eat dinner. We’ll map out the details before bed.”

Kris stood from Asriel’s bed and walked towards the door. However, he lingered for a moment. Words rose from the rock in his belly and made their way to his lips.

_“Nothing is ever going to be okay again, is it?”_

_“Am I terrible person for wanting all of this to go away, even if it means forgetting?”_

_“I miss her.”_

Shoving them all back down, Kris walked out of Asriel’s room and closed the door before his brother could think to ask what was wrong.

* * *

“Hey,” Asriel got Kidd’s attention as they put away their textbooks and notebooks after Dr. Alphys’s lecture, “want to go get pizza? I could kill for some super greasy junk food right about now.”

“Can’t.” Kidd used his tail to sling his backpack over his head and rest it on his shoulders. “I’m meeting up with Frisk soon to finish showing her around.”

Asriel feigned surprise. “Wait, did you two actually hit it off yesterday?”

“As a matter of fact, we did.” Asriel followed Kidd as he walked out of the classroom and walked towards the side exit. “She’s actually pretty cool.”

“What’s she like? Did you learn anything about her?”

Kidd rose an eyebrow at Asriel, and the goat monster couldn’t blame him. Never once had Asriel tried to squeeze information on another person from his best friend. However, Asriel assumed whatever Frisk told Kidd, if anything at all, could give Asriel an idea what kind of person they were dealing with.

Deciding to talk despite the sudden questions, Kidd told Asriel, “Well, Frisk is caught between wanting to study monster and human history and becoming a politician, she played volleyball in high school, and she has a best friend she talks to constantly.”

“What about family?”

Kidd pursed his lips before he finally said, “She has none.”

 _That means my theory of her resembling a relative I’ve met is out,_ Asriel thought, _assuming anything she’s told Kidd is true in the first place._

 _Though if the family thing is true . . . Man, I’m a jerk. Although that doesn’t excuse how she’s acting with_ my _family._

“You know,” Asriel tried as casually as possible, “if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to join you two.”

“Um, why?”

“Why not? Is this a date or something?”

“N-NO!” Kidd’s face turned beet red. “I’m just surprised you suddenly have a change of heart.”

“Well, can I still come with?”

Kidd hesitated a heartbeat before he muttered, “Yeah, sure, why not?”

When he and Kidd saw Frisk, she was sitting under a gazebo and eating a chocolate muffin. Sunglasses sat on the top of her skull like sort of headband. Noticing the boys, she smiled and waved with a little too much enthusiasm.

“Kidd. Asriel.” She nodded to each.

“Hey, Frisk,” Kidd greeted. “How’s it going?”

After Kidd and Frisk exchanged pleasantries, Frisk turned to Asriel. “Why, hello again.”

“Hey . . . Frisk.” Asriel felt awkward greeting her as if nothing was wrong. However, he had to get to the bottom of why she was here, and he had to do it all without raising suspicion in Kidd. The poor guy wouldn’t take it too well if the cute girl showing interest in him wasn’t really interested at all and was only using him to get to Asriel. It wouldn’t be the first time someone did that to Kidd, and Asriel was not about to let his best friend get hurt again.

“Azzy’s going to join us today, if you don’t mind,” Kidd told Frisk, the frustration he showed Asriel earlier now gone.

“I don’t mind at all.” Frisk stood to her feet, balling the muffin wrapper in her fist. She placed her sunglasses on her nose and said, “Let’s go.”

Following around, observing more than actually participating, Asriel watched Frisk interact with Kidd and the world around her. The human acted normal enough. Her conversations with Kidd and the questions she asked about the campus indicated she really was interested in attending class there.

Frisk was just _too_ normal for Asriel to make any judgements on. Either Kris mistook Frisk for that woman who stalked him and he and Asriel were thinking too much of the coincidence, or Frisk was a talented actress. It was really hard to tell what exactly was going on, but if Frisk’s wanting to possibly become a politician meant anything, Asriel definitely couldn’t trust her.

On top of it all, Frisk’s interactions with Asriel were kept minimal and polite. Although he did catch her looking at him a few times, he couldn’t argue that she just wasn’t making sure he was still around since he followed so quietly. The only instance worth mentioning was when Kidd talked about why the library was misspelled “librarby” and Asriel saw Frisk cleaning her sunglasses on her shirt, sliding her scarlet eyes in his direction, and winking as if there was sort of joke between them.

If there was a joke at play here, Asriel did not find it funny. A wink wasn’t evidence, but part of him still accepted it as reason for condemnation. This human was up to something, but the question was what.

“Hey,” Asriel said after Kidd finished his story, “speaking of libraries, want to stop by the community library? Frisk, you do strike me as the kind of person who likes to read.”

Frisk shrugged. “Um, sure, I guess?”

They arrived at the bus stop just in time for the three to board it. Frisk and Kidd sat together, Asriel sitting in the row behind. Watching the two engage in conversation about their favorite movies and shows, Asriel couldn’t find anything that gave him reason to worry whether or not this girl was up to anything.

 _She seems like just a normal person,_ Asriel thought, starting to think that perhaps he and Kris were wrong after all. It wouldn’t have been the first time either of them had gotten paranoid over nothing. There was no reason this wouldn’t be the last.

Yet somehow, just as he thought that, Asriel sensed that he was being watched. Carefully, he lifted up his phone. Half for show, he sent a text to Kris.

_Dad’s still picking you up, right?_

The reply came a little too quickly from someone who was supposed to be paying attention in class.

 _Yeah. He texted me five minutes ago to let me know he’s on his way._ Another text came in. _Have you seen my calculator? It’s not in my bag._

 _Where’s Frisk?_ was what Kris was really asking. One of the codes he and Asriel came up with the night before.

_I have it, don’t worry. Now stop texting in class!_

_;P_

Asriel smiled at his brother’s childishness before returning to his original purpose of pulling his phone out. It took a moment, but Asriel was able to angle his phone in a way to reflect those sitting behind him. Most were either playing on their own phones or staring out the window, but there was one monster whose general gaze went in Asriel’s direction.

This monster was _huge_. Not fat, but still large enough to take both seats in the bus row for himself. He wore a snazzy black suit with a red shirt and black tie. His lips, if Asriel could even call them that, were stuck in what appeared to be a permanent smirk, showing off pointed teeth. The monster lacked eyes, instead having eye sockets as dark as an abyss.

Skin crawling and fur undoubtedly rising on end, Asriel put his phone away before the monster could realize what he was doing. It took all of Asriel’s self-control to not gulp. Although Frisk’s innocence in stalking his family was still debatable, Asriel acted more out of reassuring his brother that he was safe than actually finding out if Frisk a threat. After all, Frisk was human, and most humans tend to back off when monsters threatened to use magic against them. This monster, on the other hand, didn’t appear as if he would have any trouble grinding Asriel to pieces if he felt like it.

Asriel liked it a lot better when he thought Frisk was the only thing he had to worry about.

When the bus stopped at the library, Asriel wasted no time jumping to his feet and ushering Kidd and Frisk off. They protested, but Asriel decided against telling them there was something else worth worrying about. Instead he faked impatience to justify his actions.

“I have to beat my mom here,” he argued as he and the others stepped off. “Kidd, you know how my mom hates to be kept waiting.”

“Yeah,” Kidd reluctantly agreed, “but I don’t think she would fuss that much when you can’t make the bus go any faster.”

Frisk, however, wasn’t fooled. “Is everything okay?” she asked softly, her posture straightening. Glancing this way and that, she took up the stance of someone on high alert.

“Everything’s great,” Asriel answered, so use to saying the lie it fell out of his mouth as if it were the absolute truth. “Now, let’s head inside and see—”

Of course, it was at this moment the large monster from the bus stepped off, the sheer size of him knocking into Frisk.

“Ooops,” he grunted unconvincingly.

Whereas Asriel was ready to back away slowly and Kidd was still too oblivious to piece together what was going on, Frisk snapped her attention towards the monster and shouted, “Watch where you’re going, buster!”

The monster turned his direction towards her, and by consequence, Asriel and Kidd as well.

Asriel’s already accelerating heart sped up so fast it hurt his chest. _Damn her!_

“I’m sorry,” the monster didn’t sound sorry at all, “I don’t speak filth. What did you say to me, human?”

“Wow, dumb and deaf? Let me speak slowly for you so perhaps you can get what I’m telling you. I said, ‘Watch where you’re going.’”

“Frisk,” Kidd said softly, quivering under the approaching monster’s height, “isn’t this a bit too much?”

Frisk, however, ignored him as she glared up at the monster. Or at least Asriel assumed she was glaring. The human still wore her sunglasses.

“Maybe _you_ should watch where _you’re_ going,” the monster said calmly, and Asriel was more terrified than if the other monster started yelling.

How Frisk was able to hold her ground, he didn’t know. Baring her teeth like some kind of wild animal, she told the monster, “Just because you look like some tacky Halloween decoration doesn’t mean you scare me.”

Before he realized what he was going, Asriel reached out and pulled Frisk back. She stumbled and crashed against his chest. Instead of moving away, Frisk stayed pressed against Asriel as she spat one final insult.

“You look more like a trash bag than a threat, freak.”

_Damnherdamnherdamnher._

The skeleton monster still wore that same smirk, but it only made him more terrifying looking. Asriel felt like a little kid again, clinging to the one person who wasn’t going to back down to anyone bigger, stronger, and scarier than she. The self-proclaimed god of hyper death stared true death in the eyes, and this stupid human was giving him every reason to pummel them all in the ground right now.

That was why when the monster slid his eyes to Asriel and simply said, “Keep your filthy pet on a leash the next time you take it out in public,” before walking away, Asriel nearly fainted.

“Ye-yes, sir!” Asriel cried out, thanking the angel that the other monster continued walking away and didn’t look back.

It wasn’t until that monster was out of sight and Frisk shook free from Asriel’s grasp that he remembered he was holding onto her body pressed against his.

“Asshole,” Frisk muttered as she stepped away from Asriel, and that was all she had left to say, even as the guys began screaming at her.

“Are you crazy?!” Asriel shouted just as Kidd exclaimed, “Yo, that was so cool how you stood up for yourself like that!”

“What?” Asriel turned to Kidd, who grinned sheepishly under Asriel’s intense stare. Turning back to the human, Asriel snarled, “Did you want him to fight you? Because I swear ‘Bad Time’ was written all over his face, and if he didn’t have better places to be, he would have eaten you for lunch instead of telling me to keep you on a leash.”

Undaunted, Frisk crossed her arms and replied, “If you think I’m going to stand for racist crap like that, you need to think again.”

“Well, maybe you should think about something.” Asriel ran his fingers through the tuff of hair on his head. “Not all monsters are nice people. Some won’t think twice about hurting a human. If you want to keep yourself in one piece, you won’t provoke them at all.”

“What, is there some kind of monster mob around here or something?”

“Let’s just say some monsters still aren’t over the last Human-Monster War.”

“That was over thirty years ago, and it ended with a peace treaty that’s still upheld till this day.”

“That doesn’t mean everyone’s willing to let go of their prejudices and hatred from everything that happened during that time and before.”

“Fine, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Frisk took a deep breath, and suddenly her posture changed. She was no longer tense and ready to jump into a fight if necessary, but calm and relaxed. When she spoke, her voice was again soft and low. “I’m sorry. Please, let’s just forget the whole thing ever happened.”

“Honestly, nothing would make me happier.”

For a moment, Asriel and Frisk stared at each other. Although she didn’t waver, Asriel could tell the human no longer felt the confidence she did while confronting the bigger monster. It was as if she switched a flip, going from ready to fight everyone to wanting to avoid a fight that quickly.

“Let’s go,” Asriel then said, turning towards the library entrance. “Mom should be here any minute now.”

As he stalked forward, fingers curled into fists, Asriel heard Kidd and Frisk whispering.

“Yo, you looked like you were going to rip that guy to pieces.”

“Yeah, but Asriel’s right. That monster would have ripped _me_ to pieces.”

“That didn’t stop you from backing down.”

“Just because I knew that monster could rip me to shreds doesn’t mean he had to know I know. If you don’t show fear, your opponents will get the impression you know how to kick their butts.”

“Does that always work?”

“No, so that’s when you either got to drop the façade or go down swinging with everything you got.”

Asriel felt his spine stiffen even as he forced himself to keep walking forward. In the back of his mind, another voice spoke. He could almost hear the smug grin in the words.

_“If you’re gonna pick a fight, give it everything you got. Let them know if you’re going down, you’re taking them with you. Your words mean nothing if you don’t put action behind them.”_

Shaking his head, Asriel tried to put the words from his mind. It was terrible advice, for one. It did nothing to serve him, just gave him terms to serve.

Yet his attempt to think of something else failed when his eyes landed on the newspaper dispenser and saw the top of the headline.

**FIVE YEARS SINCE MT. EBOTT MURDERS**

Asriel tore his eyes away before he could see anymore. Turning around, he saw Kidd staring off into space as he muttered to himself about something he and Frisk must have been talking about. The human, on the other hand, looked at the newspaper before her gaze slowly drifted to Asriel.

Pretending he didn’t notice either the newspaper or Frisk’s look of pity, Asriel marched into the library. The others entered behind, and Frisk softly announced, “I’m going to use to lady’s room. I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll be right here,” Kidd replied. After Frisk had walked down the hallway leading to the restrooms, he turned to Asriel and said, “Hey, you gotta admit how cool it was she stood up to that monster like that.”

“That was stupid, not cool.”

“Says the self-proclaimed god of hyper death. How many fights did _you_ get into back in your day?”

“Hey, now . . . ,” Asriel looked everywhere except at Kidd, “that’s different. I was fighting fellow high school students, _not_ full-grown monsters that look like they could use me as a toothpick.”

“You tried to fight Officer Undyne when she caught you and the others putting graffiti on the abandoned factory.”

“Hey, everyone else was able to get away because I distracted her!”

“Officer Undyne called your parents. You spent the night in jail. Ms. Toriel made you go to therapy afterwards. Not your greatest moment, Azzy.”

Asriel didn’t argue because Kidd was right. Those few years were the hardest he ever had. _If only I was stronger,_ he would tell himself every night as he lied awake in bed for the years to come, _then I could have saved her._

Before Asriel could say another word, his cell began to ring. _Why is Kris calling?_ He answered the phone. “Hello?” He furrowed his brows then held it out to Kidd. “It’s for you.”

Looking as confused as Asriel felt, Kidd leaned forward and let Asriel hold the phone against the side of his face. “Hello? Carla? No . . . Of course I didn’t forget. Where am I? On my way, dork. Yeah, yeah, see you soon.”

After Asriel hung up, Kidd quickly explained, “Totally brain farted. I forgot I’m supposed to pick Carla up after school so we can take the bus together to meet our parents in Hotland. My aunt is having a wedding shower for my cousin and—” Kidd shook his head.

“Just go.” Asriel sighed. “I’ll tell Frisk you have family obligations and blah blah blah. Just hurry up and get out of here before your sister has to use Kris to call me again.”

“Yeah, don’t really want to look at all the new messages and missed calls on my phone.” Kidd became to run off, probably knowing he would be better off running to the high school than waiting for a bus. “We’ll be back tonight, so I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See ya!” Asriel called back, watching Kidd take off.

It wasn’t five minutes later Frisk walked up to Asriel, looked around with pinched brows, and asked, “Where’s Kidd?”

“He forgot he’s supposed to go to Hotland with his sister,” Asriel answered, hands in his pockets, not sure how he felt now that he was stuck alone with Frisk. Maybe since Kidd was gone, Frisk would want to leave and spend the rest of the day not around him. “Carla, his sister, is in her cousin’s wedding, and their parents don’t want Carla taking the bus alone.”

“That’s understandable,” Frisk mused.

It didn’t escape Asriel’s notice that Frisk’s eyes returned to the newspaper. Her gaze slid back to Asriel. By this point, there was no denying she knew who he was and what his family went through.

Frisk didn’t open her mouth. She didn’t say anything. Asriel curled his fingers into fists so tight, his claws dug into his palms and pierced the skin. His paws were probably bleeding. However, Asriel kept tightening his fists as his jaw clenched so hard he was amazed his teeth didn’t crack under the pressure.

“Just spit it out!” he finally snapped.

Flinching, Frisk turned to Asriel. “Spit what ou—”

“You know who I am!” Asriel turned towards Frisk. “So just go ahead and say what it is you want to say. Let’s get this whole thing over with so we can go about our lives.”

Eyes closed and face downwards, Frisk sighed and shook her head. Looking back up and making eye contact with Asriel, she simply stated, “There’s nothing for me to say.”

“I don’t believe you,” Asriel snarled.

“What can I say that hasn’t already been said?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can surprise me.”

A small frown grew on Frisk’s face. It made Asriel’s blood boil. If she would just voice how _sorry_ she was for him—

“Seeing you like this would break Chara’s heart.”

Asriel expected all kinds of things he had heard thousands upon thousands of times in the five years since his sister’s death. _“I’m so sorry for your loss.” “What happened was terrible and nobody should ever have to go through what your family is going through.” “Your sister is in a better place now.”_ What Frisk said, as if she had any right to say how his sister would think or feel, was indeed something that had not been said before, and it was a straw to break the camel’s back.

Growling, Asriel advanced towards Frisk. The human, in turn, kept stepping away until her back was pressed against a wall. To keep her from escaping, Asriel’s placed both bloodied hands against the sides of Frisk’s head as he towered over her.

“Don’t ever again say her name,” he snarled, speaking as quietly but still as threateningly as possible. “Don’t you _dare_ say her name as if you knew her. You have no right to tell me anything like that!”

When Frisk bumped into the wall, the sudden force knocked her sunglasses from their place. Now they barely hung on, the lenses over her upper lip like some sort of mustache. Her wide honey eyes were exposed, and her breaths quickly became quick and shallow.

Before she could respond, before Asriel could say anything else, a new voice spoke.

“Oh! Asriel, I, uh, didn’t realize you were going to bring a friend.”

Heart stopping in his chest, Asriel slowly turned around to see his mother standing in the foyer entrance. Head snapped back to the human, Asriel immediately realized how this looked. Frisk, pinned to the wall by Asriel, faces so close their breaths hit each other’s faces. The last thing he needed was his mother thinking he was about to get into a fight with a girl, human or monster.

Frisk was the first to recover. She ducked under Asriel’s arms as if she had done this many times before and approached Toriel. A large smile was plastered on her brown face as she fixed her sunglasses to rest on the top of her head.

“You must be Toriel,” Frisk said, as if she didn’t already know who this woman was. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Flattered, Toriel accepted Frisk’s offered hand and said, “Funny, I haven’t heard anything about you. What’s your name, child?”

 _That’s because I’m not her source of information,_ Asriel wanted to say. _This human isn’t a friend. She’s another one of those weirdos trying to get information out of us._

Yet he couldn’t say anything. Unlike her son, Toriel believed those around them were well-meaning in their condolences. If Asriel tried to call Frisk out in front of his mother, she would scold him for yet again villainizing anyone just for knowing what happened to Chara. _“A lot of people know,”_ Toriel would argue. _“That’s what happens when something makes international news, Asriel. You can’t blame everyone for having some idea what’s going on in the world.”_

“I’m Frisk,” the human introduced herself as if Asriel had not just been threatening her. In a way, Asriel was grateful for that much. “Asriel told me he was helping you check out children’s books for your class. I thought I would lend a hand.”

“Oh, how generous of you, dear!” Asriel watched as his mother looked Frisk up and down. Even though Kris was also human, Toriel still studied Frisk as if she wasn’t used to seeing a human right in front of her. It wasn’t often humans were seen in New Home, after all.

Seeming to be satisfied with what she saw, Toriel told Frisk, “Why don’t you tell me about yourself as we search? I would like to get to know you.”

To Asriel, “Sweetie, the box of books from out last visit are in the car. Would you mind getting it and returning the books while Frisk and I get started?”

Asriel forced a smile on his face as he agreed to the task. As he approached his mother to accept her car keys, he heard Toriel whisper softly only for him to hear, “She is such a sweet, pretty girl! Asriel, why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend?”


	3. Chapter 3

_Chara would have loved this,_ Kris thought as he helped his father water the plants at the apartment. Well, Chara would love watering the plants and watching them grow. She would not have loved the fact Asgore no longer lived with the rest of their family.

After Chara’s death, Toriel and Asgore’s marriage fell apart. Kris and Asriel didn’t just lose a sister, but their parents as well. Sure, things had started to get better the past couple years, but nothing could begin to undo the damage losing Chara had violently brought onto all of them.

“Is something the matter, son?”

Kris looked up from the daisies, which were now overwatered thanks to his getting lost in thought, to see Asgore frowning at him. Setting down the clippers he used to trim one of his bushes, Asgore showed Kris a small, sad smile. It never seemed to escape his father’s notice whenever Kris was thinking too much about his sister.

At least Asgore could talk about Chara. Toriel still couldn’t speak Chara’s name without crying. Asriel opted to avoid any subject of their sister altogether whenever he could.

“What do you think she would say, if she were here right now?” Asgore asked.

Of course, Asgore most likely expected something about how pretty the roses were or how maybe the golden flowers should be shifted to the left a little bit to get the most out of the morning sunlight. Only Kris knew his sister better than.

With a smile on his face, he answered, “Quit crying, Krissy. The flowers don’t want to drink your tears.”

“Oh, she wouldn’t be that harsh. Chara would have at the very least said ‘please.’”

“Then she would roll her eyes and call me a crybaby, but she would smile to let me know she was only half-joking.”

“See, Chara isn’t completely gone. She still lives on in our hearts.”

“Yeah, but I would rather have here standing with us right now, helping water the plants and calling me a crybaby.”

That was the end of the conversation.

It unnerved Kris whenever he recalled that he was older than Chara was when she died. This had been true for over a year now, but he still had yet to get used to it. He didn’t expect he ever would, and everyone he told these feelings to didn’t think he would either.

Nobody should ever have to get used to the idea of being older than their elder sibling.

Thinking of elder siblings, Kris pulled his phone from his back pocket. Still nothing. He wondered what assessments Asriel was making of that woman. Perhaps Kris was mistaken after all, and this woman wasn’t his stalker but just someone who looked exactly like her. However, he couldn’t ignore the feeling in his gut that this was no mistake, and this Frisk really did spend a week hanging outside his school and following him part of the way home.

It wasn’t until long after Kris helped Asgore with his “garden,” ordered a pizza for their dinner, and pulled out his homework to start while he waited for the pizza to arrive that Asriel finally sent his text. However, he wasn’t asking about his CDs. Asriel didn’t use any of their codes at all, instead opting for straightforward English without giving away what the two already discussed.

_Remember that girl I volunteered to help Kidd show around today? Yeah. Mom saw her with me at the library and invited her over for dinner tomorrow night._

Kris didn’t know how to respond. There was no way this was what Asriel wanted to happen. Toriel must have seen Asriel with this girl and assumed they were friends or something, and being Toriel, she invited his new friend over in order to get to know her.

With the conclusion made, Kris replied, _Mom’s going to interview her like she’s applying to be your friend._

 _Mom’s very picky who she accepts to be our friends._ Asriel got it. There was an opportunity here, and their mom got to be the one to do all the hard work for them.

_Think we should warn your new friend?_

_Hmm, nah. This I actually want to see._

Kris wanted to witness this as well. Enough that he decided to be present even if the thought of being near his potential stalker was many levels of creepy. At least Toriel and Asriel would be there, and Kris knew where all the knives were.

Just in case.

* * *

In order to keep up appearances with the whole girlfriend thing Toriel believed that he didn’t bother to correct, Asriel wore his black jeans and one of his nicer purple V-neck shirts. He wasn’t too dressed up, but it was enough to keep Toriel from wondering why he wasn’t trying harder. Not that Asriel planned to try impressing Frisk, but he did think in the back of his mind that she should be grateful he put in some level of effort.

Frisk was early, arriving while Toriel was out picking up both Kris from their dad’s and groceries from the store. Quickly putting his irritation aside, Asriel decided to use this as an opportunity to warn her from talking about his sister. He didn’t want Frisk trying anything with his family around.

When he opened the door, he saw she put just as much effort into dressing up as he did. She wore black flats, a jean skirt, and a pink flutter sleeve top. In her hands was a potted plant.

Asriel’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the flowers. They were golden flowers. Toriel’s favorite . . . as well as Chara’s.

“Any particular reason you brought a potted plant here?” he asked, reminding himself that it wasn’t public knowledge what his mom and sister’s favorite flowers were and this was likely a coincidence.

“I was raised to always bring a gift whenever someone invites me to their home,” Frisk answered, “and I thought I couldn’t go wrong with flowers. Unless someone is allergic?”

 _Maybe it’s a coincidence after all._ “The flowers are fine, but why _potted_?”

“A little voice in my head would scream at me if I bought flowers cut away from their roots.”

 _I can’t tell if this is just an act or if she really has such a guilty conscience._ “Here, let me take those for you. Oh, and, uh, come in, I guess.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting the dinner to be held outside. Where is everyone else, anyway?”

“Mom’s out getting groceries for tonight’s dinner. She and my brother will be back shortly.”

Frisk walked in behind Asriel, stopped when he did to set the flowers on the counter by the door, and looked around. Asriel’s family lived in an open house. From the front door, the living room was visible on one side with the kitchen and dining room open on the other. Not even the home office was blocked by walls and a door. Only upstairs, where the bedrooms were, was hidden from first impressions. This was the kind of home where hardly a thing was kept secret.

“This is a nice house,” Frisk said, and Asriel noticed how her eyes lingered on one of the portraits on the wall. It was the Christmas before they lost Chara. The parents sat on chairs in front of the tree, the three kids on the floor. Asriel was in the middle, Kris on one side and Chara on the other. While everyone else smiled at the camera, Chare wore a smirk that made her look as if she had been cooking up some evil scheme while the picture was being taken.

Asriel could testify that, yes, Chara had an evil plan in mind and acted it out that night.

“Don’t you dare say her name tonight,” Asriel growled, drawing Frisk’s attention towards him. “I don’t care if Mom or Kris bring up my sister, you will _not_ speak her name or say anything about her.”

“I won’t,” Frisk vowed, “but can _you_ say her name?”

As much as Asriel wanted to snap at Frisk, he knew she was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he said Chara’s name. He didn’t know if he could bring himself to if necessary.

“I will say, however,” Frisk began, “that I’m sorry I upset you with what I said yesterday. I didn’t intend for it to sound as it did.”

Although “it’s okay” or “I forgive you” were words Asriel should have said, he didn’t. It wasn’t okay. He didn’t forgive her. He wouldn’t say things he didn’t mean. Yet he couldn’t deny the way she looked at him, the way she looked at the photos of Chara, displayed more sadness than any stranger should be capable of showing.

Before Asriel could think further of it, Frisk asked, “Are you a take-your-shoes-off-at-our-home family, or keep-your-shoes-on-we-really-don’t-care family?”

“We really don’t care,” Asriel answered, but Frisk took her shoes off all the same. Asriel constantly being barefoot – they just didn’t make shoes big enough for furry feet like his – probably left the human feeling more comfortable following suit.

Fortunately, he was saved from having to make awkward conversation when he heard Toriel’s car pull into the driveway. It was Frisk who asked if they should help her unload. They walked outside and were greeted by a large smile from Toriel.

Toriel introduced Frisk and Kris, to which Frisk responded that she remembered seeing Kris with Kidd’s little sister the other night. Kris didn’t deny seeing her as well, but he smartly kept the stalker thing to himself. When Kris was done sizing her up, Asriel nodded to indicate that so far, there was nothing to worry about.

Not that Asriel didn’t note how Frisk didn’t question Kris, a human, and previously Chara being a part of a family made up of monsters. Frisk could have kept quiet for the sake of being polite, sure. Though Asriel didn’t discard that Frisk already knew the story behind it either.

“Here,” Frisk said after she and the others helped to bring all the groceries inside, “let me help you put everything away.”

“Aw, that’s kind of you, child, but there’s no need to—” Toriel cut herself off, and Asriel looked up to see Frisk removing things from the plastic bags and putting them away.

“I really don’t mind,” Frisk insisted after putting the cereal in the cupboard and cans of vegetables in the pantry. “I would feel like a rude guest if I just stood and watched.”

“I can see that,” Toriel smiled. “I’m just a bit surprised you know where everything is.”

Frisk halted in motion, gallon of milk in her hands. Blinking, her eyes remained locked on Toriel. Now that the monster mentioned it, Frisk seemed to have no need to ask where everything went.

Slowly, Frisk finally said, “I thought everyone put their groceries up the same way.”

“Yes, but not everyone puts their bread in the fridge.”

Smiling sheepishly, Frisk said nothing as she resumed helping Toriel with the groceries. Asriel watched Frisk and noticed how she moved slower now, as if she wasn’t as sure of herself as before. Now that Asriel thought about it, Frisk didn’t look around the house as most new guests did. Although she had never been there before, or at least Asriel hoped was the case, she seemed to have no problem knowing where everything was and where it belonged.

“Kris,” Toriel said after the groceries were put away, “why don’t you get started on homework while I cook?”

“Yes, ma’am, but I’m going to need help with my science homework.”

“I’ll help you with it,” Asriel offered.

“Asriel,” Toriel said, “shouldn’t you stay here to hang out with Frisk?”

“Uh, yes. I guess I just offered out of habit.”

“No, help him,” Frisk insisted, smiling. “I can help with the cooking. That is, if you don’t mind, Ms. Toriel?”

Toriel frowned at Frisk. “Are you sure, child? Certainly you don’t want to spend your evening with an old woman like me.”

“Maybe I can help you later?” Asriel suggested to Kris, but Kris’s frown indicated that this was another one of those essay questionnaires he struggled completing. If they started later, they would be up late into the night.

“Just go,” Frisk waved them away. “We’ll have plenty of time to hang out when dinner’s ready.”

Suppressing a grunt, Asriel said, “Okay, we’re going. Come on, Kris, we’ll work in my room.”

As they walked upstairs, Kris whispered, “Sorry. I could try doing it on my own so you can keep an eye on her.”

“I’m not worried,” Asriel replied as softly, surprised how true the words were. “After all, if she thinks she’s going to interview Mom, she’s got another thing coming.”

Kris smirked. “We should have brought Mom in sooner. She’ll figure out everything you could never get this woman to spill.”

“Now that you mention it, why wasn’t that Plan A?”

* * *

Nearly an hour later, and two-thirds of the worksheet done, Asriel wondered at the quietness of the house. It wasn’t absolute silence, he could hear his mother shuffling through the kitchen, but the voices and occasional laughter had long since quieted. Frisk’s presence had gone absolutely silent.

“I’ll be right back,” Asriel told Kris, knocking his knuckles against the top of his bother’s head. “I’m going to check to see if dinner’s almost done.”

“I hope it is,” Kris replied as Asriel stepped out of his room. “I’m _starving_!”

Closing the door behind him, Asriel made it no more than three steps when he noticed something off. One of the doors was crack opened. _The_ door. Asriel resisted the urge to growl. Under no circumstances was anyone allowed to enter that room, yet someone found it necessary to do whatever she wanted anyway.

“What are you doing?!” Asriel snarled as she threw open the door, fingers gripping the doorknob so tightly he consciously made himself loosen his grip before he could put a dent in the knob.

Frisk spun around, her honey eyes wide and all the color draining from her face. She had been standing by the bed. _Chara’s_ bed.

Even though it had been five years since Chara died, her room remained untouched. Once a month, Toriel, and sometimes Asriel, would open the otherwise always shut door and clean the dust and cobwebs from the room. It wasn’t as if Chara was ever coming home again and sleeping in her room, but nobody could bring themselves to completely clean it out.

“As-Asriel,” Frisk stuttered, “I’m so-sorry. I only wanted to—”

Sounding like some sort of rabid animal, Asriel bared his teeth and ordered, _“Get out.”_

Frisk didn’t need to be told twice. She rushed towards the door, and by default, towards Asriel as well. The sight of this human, invading his dead sister’s room as if there was no reason she couldn’t do what she wanted, sickened him.

All without thinking, Asriel grabbed Frisk as she came close, slammed her against the wall just outside of the bedroom, and said into her ear, “If you know what’s good for you, you will leave town and never, ever return. No more spying on me, no more communicating with my mom, and sure as hell no more stalking my little brother as he walks home from school. I don’t care how morbidly curious you are: my sister’s death is _not_ some story you can dissect and insert your crazy ideas on. I’m sick of your kind trying to make a quick buck on my family’s biggest tragedy. We’re not selling any book, movie, or TV show rights, and we’re not taking any more interviews by reporters, so you can leave us the hell alone.”

While Asriel spoke, Frisk did nothing beyond wrap her fingers around the hand that held her in place. She didn’t kick him in the shin or scream at the top of her lungs. Instead, after he had finished speaking and she could be sure he didn’t have anything else he wanted to say, Frisk quietly communicated, “Asriel, I can’t breathe. Please let me go. You’re hurting me.”

It wasn’t until Frisk spoke that Asriel realized he held Frisk by her neck. His massive paw covered her throat, and he could feel her struggle to swallow under his palm. When he jerked his hand away from the human, a wave of shame crashed into him when he saw the ugly red marks on her brown skin.

Frisk immediately reached for her throat, and she took deep breaths to fill her lungs. Her eyes flashed up to Asriel’s then down to her toes again. Tears began to spring up in her eyes.

Monsters, Asriel was once told from a human’s analysis of them, were like snow: one bad touch, and they fell apart. It was supposedly much easier for a human to kill a monster than the other way around. Yet, as Asriel looked down on the short human with the evidence of his hand around her neck, he couldn’t help but think she was the fragile one – with one bad touch, she would be the one to fall apart.

For a moment, they stood there. Asriel in utter disbelief, and Frisk with her fingers lightly touching her throat. He should have apologized, but Asriel couldn’t speak.

Words returning to her first, Frisk merely stated, “I’ll leave after dinner. Any sooner will raise suspicions. Just give it thirty more minutes, and you will never, ever have to see me again.”

Pushing away from the wall, Frisk began to walk down the hall. She wasn’t running like Asriel expected her to, as he believed she should. Then she stopped, turned around, and said two words that pierced his heart.

“I’m sorry.”

 _No, I’m the one who should be sorry,_ he thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak as he watched her walk back down the stairs. _I took it too far. That never should have happened._

Claws digging into his palms, Asriel couldn’t help but wonder if Frisk was right after all. That he was mad not because she said his sister’s name, but because she said something he didn’t want to hear, something he was ashamed might be true. Perhaps seeing Asriel like this would break Chara’s heart after all.

* * *

True to Frisk’s word, she was gone in thirty minutes. She stayed all through dinner and acted as if nothing was wrong. Toriel kept Frisk engaged in conversation, but Asriel could barely listen to any of the things they discussed.

After they had eaten, Frisk excused herself. She was leaving town that night, and she had to stop by her hotel to pick up her bags and get to the train station. When Toriel asked when Frisk would be back in town, the human simply answered that she wasn’t sure, though she and Asriel both knew the truth.

Arms crossed and by the window, Asriel watched Frisk walk away from the house. She made it halfway down the block before she looked back. It wasn’t a minute later she turned away again and resumed her walk.

“I like Frisk.”

Brows flying so fast up Asriel’s forehead he had to touch them to make sure they didn’t fly off, Asriel turned around and questioned, “Wait, you like her?”

Cocking her head to the side, Toriel resumed washing the dishes and replied, “Why are you so surprised?”

“Well, I brought a total of three girls home over the years, and you didn’t like a single one.”

“That doesn’t mean I will never like any girls you’re interested in.”

“Wait,” Kris said from his place on the couch, history textbook and notebook both sharing space on his lap, “you think Asriel’s interested in Frisk?”

Toriel frowned and looked again at her older son. “Are you not?”

“Frisk isn’t my girlfriend,” Asriel finally confessed. “I was just helping Kidd show her around yesterday.”

“And you didn’t bother to correct me? Why?”

 _Now that’s a good question._ Crossing his arms even tighter, Asriel kept staring at the golden flowers Frisk brought as if they were the most important thing in the room. It was easier to look at the gift than to make eye contact with his mom when he finally said, “She knows what happened to our family. Seemed a little too interested. However, if I told you as much, you would have told me to stop keeping everyone at a distance because they know what happened to . . .”

Asriel heard his mother sigh. His gaze shifted towards his brother, but Kris pretended to be invested in his history homework. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Asriel knew Frisk was right to point out that he couldn’t say his own sister’s name anymore.

“It was a nationwide tragedy, Asriel,” Toriel said sluggishly, and the slow but steady sound of her washing the dishes resumed. “Seven human children, all kidnapped and murdered on Mt. Ebott. Only one survived. People are going to know who we are just as they know who the other families are, just as we know them and share with their pain without having met them. You can’t keep pushing away anyone who knows what happened to Chara.

“Besides, hasn’t it occurred to you that perhaps Frisk knew someone who died in that horrible massacre?”

The question caught Asriel off guard. So much so, his shame was discarded long enough for him to look towards his mother. Then his shame came crashing back when she saw how her brows furrowed and pity reflected in her eyes.

“What makes you think she knew someone who died?” Asriel asked.

“Just the sadness rolling from her while we cooked together. Frisk . . . reminds me of Chara. I can’t explain it, but it felt like I already knew her. It was like she and Chara could have been sisters. Without thinking, I mentioned that I had a daughter once who I thought would have been good friends with her, and without asking what happened, Frisk apologized for my loss. It sounded far too sincere to come from someone who only experienced the tragedy through the news.”

Asriel didn’t have a response, and Toriel didn’t press further. It never occurred to Asriel to try to think about Frisk from this angle. Although this did nothing to undo how Frisk watched his family from afar, Asriel couldn’t fight the guilt he felt from blowing up on her.

 _I should have apologized,_ he told himself as he climbed upstairs and entered his room. When Kris was done using his history homework as a break, they would return to finishing his science questionnaire. Until then, Asriel would make himself find contentment in lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

When what felt like hours passed, Asriel checked the time. Eight o’clock. It had only been fifteen minutes. The yearly Mt. Ebott Murders documentary would be on tonight. Asriel could never bring himself to watch it, but Toriel never missed it.

Pushing himself up, Asriel got on his feet and trudged towards the door. Before he realized it, he was in Chara’s room. His eyes scanned everything that belonged to his sister – from her drawings on the walls, to her old knitting projects she never got to finish, to that weird white cat-dog stuffed animal she slept with every night lying on the bed – but stopped at the sight of something that didn’t belong sitting on the nightstand.

As if in a dream, Asriel approached the bed and saw on the nightstand, pushed against the book Chara had been reading before her death, was a small gift. The box was wrapped in white paper and secured with a red bow. There was a note by its side.

With shaky fingers, Asriel picked up and read the note.

_Asriel,_

_I can never apologize enough for the pain I brought with me when I came to town. There’s something I needed to give back, but I couldn’t figure out how. Approaching you or anyone else in your family outright was too straightforward. Leaving this in the mailbox was too cowardly. I wanted to meet you, after all, but perhaps that was a mistake._

_Please understand I never wanted to hurt anyone. Although I’m sure receiving this will hurt a lot at first, I pray one day it will bring you joy instead of tears to again have this in your possession._

_Hopes and dreams,  
Frisk_

Asriel furrowed his brows at the _“give back”_ and _“again have this in your possession”_ points in the note. _What could Frisk possibly have that supposedly belongs to me?_

Pulling off the ribbon, ripping off the paper, and removing the lid, Asriel froze when he saw what lay in the box. Barely able to breath, Asriel reached in and picked up what was kept inside. He studied it for a moment, unable to believe what he held.

A locket.

The locket.

Chara’s locket.

Chara was wearing it when she went missing. It was never found. Until this moment, Asriel believed it had been lost forever. Only it wasn’t lost. Frisk had it the whole time.

_But why would—_

“Asriel!”

Fingers curing around the golden locket, Asriel dashed out of the room and raced downstairs to answer his mother’s call. She didn’t sound to be in danger. Yet there was something that terrified her, and Toriel shouted Asriel’s name as a plea for his presence.

When Asriel jumped over the last three steps, he saw both Toriel and Kris staring at him, their faces ash pale. Toriel was on the couch, TV paused. Kris had a glass of water in hand, as if had just come downstairs to get a drink before whatever Toriel called Asriel down for happened.

“You should see this,” was all Kris said as he pointed at the TV.

Before his eyes shifted fully to the screen, Asriel stopped to look at his mom. Tears sprang up in Toriel’s eyes. Asriel couldn’t begin to imagine what the documentary was showing to upset both his mom and brother to such an extent.

Then his eyes landed on the screen, and after half a moment, he understood.

The first thing Asriel noticed was the eighth grade yearbook picture of Chara. Her wicked grin covered her face as she stared into the camera. This was the photo most often used when documentaries and articles covered the first victim of the Mt. Ebott Murders.

Only on the paused television, Chara’s picture wasn’t the only one. The other seven children were shown as well. One girl was baking. A boy dressed as a cowboy for Halloween. Another girl was pictured in a sparkling leotard and had her makeup done for a dance recital.

Initially, nothing was out of the ordinary. These pictures were always used to show the faces of the victims while they were alive. Then that half moment finally passed.

This picture wasn’t new – Asriel had seen it multiple times over the years. It was a photo of a brown-skinned girl sitting on a stump in what appeared to be a forest of sorts and smiling at the camera as if she was the happiest person in the whole world. She held a stick in hand, and there was a bright pink bandage on her cheek.

However, this same old photo meant something now. She had aged in the years since this picture was taken, but Asriel knew immediately who this was. So did his family, and nobody connected the dots until now.

The girl with the stick was none other than Frisk, the eight child to go missing and the sole survivor in the Mt. Ebott Murders.


	4. Chapter 4

“Thanks for helping me on such short notice,” Asgore said after he threw the last bag of soil down in the back room of his store. “I don’t think I would have been able to unload the delivery as quickly without your landing a hand. Um, figuratively speaking, that is.”

“No problem, Mr. Asriel’s Dad,” Kidd said as he finished arranging the bags he carried from the truck to the back of the store. For a skinny monster, Kidd was strong. Once the wooden crate was put on Kidd like a school backpack, all Asgore had to do was put the bags of soil in the crate for Kidd to carry.

Now, the crate backpack removed, Kidd used his tail and one of his legs to arrange the bags of soil the way Asgore liked. For the umpteenth time, Asgore considered asking Kidd to work for him. Asgore, however, didn’t. Kidd made it clear he would feel odd working for his best friend’s dad. The young monster wouldn’t even accept payment for his services, so Asgore made a mental note to treat him and Asriel to pizza the next time the two hung out at his apartment.

“How are classes going?” Asgore asked as he began helping Kidd organize.

Without looking up, Kidd answered, “Good.”

That was it. Just “good.” Nothing more.

“Are you doing all right? Normally you’re a lot more talkative.”

“I guess I just don’t have a lot to say.”

 _That’s a first._ “What’s upsetting you, Kidd?”

Still without looking up, Kidd shrugged. “I’m just being stupid.”

“How so?”

“Well . . . ,” Kidd trailed off, possibly not sure if he should say. Then he sighed and admitted, “I met this girl the other day, and I was so sure we hit it off. She’s kind, funny, cute . . . I suppose I’m just more than a little upset she’s showing interest in someone else instead of me. See? Stupid, right? It’s not like I’ve known her long or anything. This really shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Not stupid at all.” Asgore reached over and pat Kidd on the shoulder. “I have had my fair share of unrequited crushes back in the day. Trust me, it’s a perfectly valid thing to be upset over, granted you don’t dwell on it for longer than is necessary.”

“Thanks Mr. Asriel’s Dad.” Kidd showed Asgore a small smile. “I’ll be fine. I know I will. It just sucks right now.”

Before Asgore could respond, he heard the bell of the main entrance ring. A customer was here. Perhaps it was Dr. Alphys. She was a little early, but she could have finished at the university earlier than expected. If not, Asgore still needed to greet everyone who walked into his store.

Understanding, Kidd said, “Go ahead. I’ll finish here. We’re nearly done anyway, so it’ll only take a minute.”

Asgore gave Kidd a grateful pat on the back before walking to the front of the store. As he pushed past the curtain separating the shop from the stock room, he saw a human woman holding the pot in which the dying golden flower was planted. A greeting was on his lips but died when the human turned towards him.

 _It can’t be,_ Asgore thought, his heart skipping a beat. Then he blinked and realized his error. _Of course, I would be seeing her everywhere I look today._

The human girl kept staring at Asgore, the flowerpot in her hands. She appeared to be the age Chara would be today if she was still alive. Other than also being human, that was where the similarities began and ended.

“Howdy!” Asgore greeted after he finally found his voice. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Um, no, thank you,” the girl replied. “I just wanted to look.”

“I’m sorry, miss, but that flower is reserved for someone else. If you want something like it, I can find one that isn’t—”

Asgore cut himself off when his eyes land on the flower. What he was going to say was, “one that isn’t dying.” Only, the flower was no longer wilted. The previously withering, browning plant now stood upright and was again vibrantly colorful. It was as if this was no longer the same plant.

“Do you have any seeds for this type of flower?” the human asked after a moment as she set the pot back on the counter. “It’s really pretty.”

“Of course,” Asgore answered. “How many packets do you want?”

“Just one, thank you.”

As Asgore walked the human over to the seed section, Kidd came from the back saying, “All right, that’s the last of it. Call me if you need anythi—Frisk? What are you doing here?”

Asgore’s eyes shifted from Kidd to the human to Kidd again.

“Hey, Kidd,” the human, Frisk, muttered.

“I thought you were having dinner at Asriel’s.”

This got Asgore to furrow his brows. He knew his son was having a guest over, as Kris already told Asgore. That much was a surprise considering how closed off Asriel was around this time of year, and this human’s presence indicated how that dinner might have gone.

“I’m leaving town tonight,” Frisk told Kidd as she picked out the seed packet she wanted. “I just thought I would pick up some seeds before I left.”

Turning to Asgore, Frisk said, “How much for the packet?”

Asgore told her the price as he walked her to the register. After the purchase was made, Frisk bade him a goodnight and wished Kidd well. Even as she walked away, Kidd still frowned at her now out of sight figure.

“She seemed upset,” Kidd told Asgore. He thought she was merely shy, but it seemed Kidd knew enough to know better. The younger monster’s observation of the human was all the evidence Asgore needed.

“So that’s the girl.” There was no need to phrase it like a question.

Kidd didn’t deny it. “Would it be wrong if I tried to cheer her up?”

“Would it be more wrong if you didn’t?”

Considering this only for a moment, Kidd said, “Night, Mr. Asriel’s Dad!” and fled out the door.

As he watched the young monster go, Asgore chuckled to himself. That kid didn’t have a single unkind bone in his body. Asgore hoped this girl wouldn’t ultimately break Kidd’s heart, otherwise there would be a problem.

* * *

“Yo, Frisk, wait up!” Kidd called as he ran down the street. Hearing him, Frisk stopped and turned around.

After Kidd had caught up to her, he opened his mouth to speak. Then he closed it again. He hadn’t thought this far ahead. As much as Kidd wanted to cheer Frisk up, he kind of needed to know what to say in order for that to happen.

Not having anything else to work with, Kidd said, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Asriel.”

Frisk sadly smiled and questioned, “That obvious, huh?”

“Well, I don’t think you would be upset if it went great.”

Hugging herself, Frisk looked around and asked, “So, is there any reason you chased me down, or . . . ?”

An idea finally came to Kidd. “You know what cheers me up when I’m sad? Nice cream!”

“Wait, did you just say, ‘nice cream’?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kidd answered. “Haven’t you had nice cream before?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

Dramatically gasping, Kidd said, “Well, you can’t leave town until you go to Jen and Berry’s to try it. At the very least, give it a chance to make you feel better. Nice cream is the cold treat that warms your heart.”

“I don’t really like sweets . . . ,” Frisk kept hugging herself, but this time she managed to wear a nicer smile as she added, “but I can’t see why I don’t have a treat before I go.”

“When are you leaving?” Kidd asked as he began leading the way to the parlor.

“I was going to take the nine o’clock bus, but I guess I’ll take the midnight now. After all, the bus leaves in fifteen minutes, and I still haven’t gone to the hotel to pick up my bags.”

“Do you think you will be coming back?”

It took Frisk a few minutes to answer. “No.”

“Oh,” Kidd tried to hide his disappointment. “Well, regardless, it was really nice meeting you and getting to know you. I’m sorry being here wasn’t what you expected it to be.”

“I honestly don’t know what I was expecting in the first place,” Frisk replied, and Kidd didn’t know how to respond. Fortunately, Frisk saved him from thinking of an answer when she asked, “Why are you being so nice to me? We’re strangers. You don’t owe me anything.”

Kidd shrugged. “You look like you need a friend.”

“So you choose to be that friend? For no reason other than you can?”

“It never hurts to show a little kindness. After all, you never know what another person’s going through. Maybe all a person really needs is someone to be nice to them, or maybe even be their friend.”

They walked in silence for only a moment before Frisk said, “You’re a good friend.”

Feeling his cheeks getting hot, Kidd replied, “Thanks. Uh, I had a lot of practice.”

It was just then they walked past an electronic store. A bunch of TVs were on display. Some broadcasted the news, others cartoons, and others still movies. When they were much younger, Kidd, Asriel, and Chara would gather here after school to watch a cartoon before going home. They never had the audio, but they still enjoyed the show nonetheless.

It was as Kidd was about to tell Frisk this, hoping a happy story would help her feel better, when he realized she stopped. Kidd walked back towards the store, where Frisk stared at one of the TVs. As he got closer, he saw the one she watched was playing the documentary he knew without a doubt Asriel’s mom was watching at this very moment.

This wasn’t a recent documentary – no new information had been found in the last three years. As a result, Kidd didn’t need audio to know what was going on in this section. The narrator talked about what was found in the discovered facility that undoubtedly held all the children.

The remains of all but one of the murdered children were found. It was hard to tell how each died, but all the theories and speculations from those who performed the autopsies was enough to make Kidd sick. Only one child survived, the event leaving the child mute for over a year after surviving what could have without a doubt been a gruesome death.

It was as Kidd thought of this human child that the piece finally fit into the puzzle. He looked at Frisk then back at the screen just as the picture of the eighth human was displayed. Like all the other pictures of the victims, Kidd knew this one well. The eighth human, a brown-skinned girl about thirteen or fourteen the time the picture was taken, grinned at the camera as she held a turtle in her hands. The girl standing next to him didn’t smile like that, but she probably hadn’t been able to since her experience on Mt. Ebott.

“Go ahead and say it,” Frisk forced out as the documentary cut to commercial break. She stood stone still in front of the store, her eyes locked on the TV. Yet Frisk spoke as if she and Kidd had just had a grueling fight and she awaited the killing blow.

Kidd had no intentions of playing dumb or acting as if this wasn’t a big deal, but he had no intentions to bombard her either. “Now I know why you looked so familiar.”

This got Frisk to laugh a little, albeit without humor. “That’s all you got for me?”

“Chara was my friend. It’s horrible enough losing a friend to this appalling series of murders. I can’t imagine actually living through it.”

Frisk didn’t respond. Kidd didn’t press further. Sighing, Frisk finally said, “Maybe I should leave earlier after all.”

“Are you sure you don’t want nice cream?” Kidd offered. “I guess it won’t cheer you up _that_ much, but . . . Never mind. I’m such a turd. This is kind of a big deal, and here I am suggesting nice cream—”

“No,” Frisk interrupted. “I still want to get nice cream. That is . . . if you still want to get some with me.”

“Ye-yeah! I mean, of course. Er, it’s whatever. Up to you. No pressure or anything.”

As they resumed walking, Kidd thought about what to say. He really had no intentions to interrogate Frisk – Asriel made it plenty clear he didn’t like talking about it, and Kidd didn’t want to take his chances with Frisk – but he didn’t want to ignore the revelation either. The last thing Kidd wanted was to come across as insensitive or like he didn’t care.

Fortunately, Frisk made the decision for him.

“I didn’t come to town to check out Ebott University. I came to find Asriel and his family. I . . . I had something I wanted to give back.”

“Wait, ‘give back’?” Kidd questioned. “What did you have?”

“Chara’s locket.”

“Oh.” Kidd knew which locket Frisk talked about.

It was the first Christmas after Asriel’s parents adopted Chara and Kris. Having come from a messed up home, the human children were hesitant to accept their monster family. However, Asriel was the first person to get Chara to smile. She opened up to him long before she began to warm up to her other new friends and family. Asriel gave Chara the locket as a promise that he would always be her best friend, and Chara almost never took it off.

It rubbed salt into the already gaping wound for Asriel to think it was lost forever with his sister and best friend. If Frisk actually had it, if she could return it to him—

“I found other things, too . . . while I was there,” Frisk muttered, eyes trained on her toes as she continued to walk and tell her story. “A ribbon, a bandana, even a cowboy hat – all things that belonged to the other kids. I . . . took them with me when I escaped, and over the years . . . I gave them all back. To the families. One by one.

“Some I met in person. Others I mailed the belongings. No matter which I did, it wasn’t easy. I knew some were grateful one less child suffered the fate of their son or daughter or brother or sister did. Some . . . were far more hateful. I couldn’t blame them. I still can’t. Why did I live, and the others died? It’s not fair. Still, I had to give everyone the items back. Now that I finally gave back the last thing that isn’t mine . . . I don’t know. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would make it this far.”

After Frisk hadn’t spoken for a few minutes, Kidd replied, “If you hadn’t survived and escaped, who knows how many more kids would have suffered the same fate before someone else managed to get away and bring the police to the hideout? Fair or not, you’re still alive, and you did what you could to give something back to those who lost loved ones. You shouldn’t sound so guilty for breathing.”

“How can you say that to me when your friend is dead?”

“Hating you won’t bring Chara back any more than it’ll bring the other kids back. Besides, you’re not to blame. The one who did all of this is.”

“Yeah.” Frisk hugged herself and didn’t say another word. Kidd dropped the topic.

Even worse than what happened to the children is the fact whoever did it got away. After Frisk escaped and the police knew where to investigate, all evidence of the murderer’s existence disappeared. Only what remained of most of the bodies was found. The murderer wore a mask, so Frisk had written to a therapist when it was clear the child would not be speaking. Although she had seen the culprit, she did not know what he looked like. She didn’t know whether he was human or monster. Just that he had a male voice, and he didn’t expect Frisk to fight back, paving the way for her to escape in the first place.

Even though there are no other murders tied to him, it still infuriated Kidd, Asriel, and almost everyone else that justice would never be served. The only witness never saw his face, and there were no traces of DNA or fingerprints left behind. The guy might as well have disappeared into thin air.

“You’re very brave, y’know,” Kidd then said, knowing there was no right thing to say but wanting to say something anyway. “Not just for fighting and getting away, but living each day after, giving everyone their kids’ stuff back. I can’t imagine it’s easy.”

“It’s not, and I’m not brave, Kidd. I keep going because I have to, not necessarily because I want to.”

“Well, yeah, but you still make the choice to get out of bed and live life. No matter what anyone goes through, sometimes that alone is the greatest challenge.”

“Why . . .” Kidd turned his attention to see Frisk shaking her head. She took a deep breath and tried again, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“As I already said, you look as if you need a friend. Maybe more than I thought. I want to be that friend. I mean, we are friends, aren’t we?”

Frisk hesitated for only a moment before she answered, “I wouldn’t be getting nice cream with someone who isn’t a friend.”

Slowly, Frisk smiled at Kidd, and he felt his heartrate skyrocket at the sight. He grinned back, showing all his pointy teeth. This must had made him look goofy because Frisk giggled in response. Although he understood why Frisk planned to leave town, he didn’t want her to go. It would be a shame to watch her disappear from his life before he got the chance to get to really know her.

“If you aren’t planning on going to Ebott University,” Kidd then said, changing the subject, “where did you plan on going?”

Blushing, Frisk answered, “I, uh, don’t know. I still haven’t picked a school yet. Perhaps I wasn’t lying about that much after all.”

“Any chance I can convince you to reconsider?”

“Hmm, I’ll hear your argument, but if this nice cream is as good as you say it is, I doubt you will have to try that hard.”

Kidd had to ask, “Are you still leaving tonight?”

It was a moment before Frisk answered, “I’ll need to get a new hotel room, but . . . I don’t see why I can’t stay for a few more days. There’s a lot more I could do while I’m here, if I search for it.”

It was the most beautiful thing Kidd had ever heard.

* * *

Asriel could not sleep at all that night. After learning the truth about Frisk, he tried calling Kidd. No answer. He waited an hour and called again. Still no answer.

 _Are you still helping my dad? The shipments are normally not that big._ When another hour passed with no response to Asriel’s text, he tried calling again. When Kidd didn’t pick up, Asriel immediately texted, _Are you all right? It’s not like you to go this long without responding._

Twenty or so minutes later, Asriel was about to call his dad to see if he knew what Kidd was up to when the monster of the moment finally texted back, _Sorry. At Jen and Berry’s._

_At this time of night?_

_A friend needed cheering up._

That all Kidd had said, and without any other evidence, Asriel was still certain Kidd had somehow run into Frisk and concluded that dinner at Asriel’s had not gone well and decided to help her feel better. Dread sunk inside Asriel’s chest as he wondered what Frisk told Kidd. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Kidd might have known, whether about Asriel or Frisk herself. Asriel didn’t need Kidd to tell him that Asriel had been a jerk to Frisk, but he still expected to hear it sooner or later.

Since Kidd never added more after his last text, nor did Asriel say anything else, Asriel could not conclude anything. Perhaps he should have asked Kidd to apologize to Frisk for him. Perhaps he should have left home right away in hopes of finding them still there and apologizing to Frisk in person.

_“Seeing you like this would break Chara’s heart.”_

No matter how hard Asriel tried to sleep, all he could hear was Frisk’s voice repeating the words again and again like some sort of tormenting broken record.

The next morning, Asriel got out of bed the moment he heard his mom in the kitchen with the decisions he might as well get up and start his day. It wasn’t as if he would be going sleep by this point anyway.

“Oh, Asriel, you’re up early,” Toriel said when she saw her son enter the kitchen. “Would you like me to make some coffee for you too?”

“Yes, please.”

“All right. Well, now that you’re awake, would you mind helping me make breakfast? You can prepare the fruit salad while I cook the pancakes.”

Toriel kept her words short and her tone even. Something clearly lingered at the back of her mind, and it appeared there was going to be no further discussion of Frisk. Or at least not now, anyway. Asriel frowned but agreed to help Toriel all the same. It wasn’t as if he was ready to talk about last night.

After everyone got over their shock, Asriel simply told Toriel and Kris that he didn’t know who Frisk was. He didn’t blame his mom for giving him a hard time over his treatment of Frisk for knowing who they were when he was so wrapped up in himself he didn’t know who the human was. Her experience was worse than theirs, which really proved just how unnecessary Asriel’s being rude to Frisk truly was.

While he chopped the fruit, Asriel’s eyes occasionally slide towards the television. Without fail, Toriel watched the news every morning. She needed to know if there was any reason she should keep her remaining children home so that they would be safe.

“I’m going to see if Kris is awake,” Toriel announced after she poured some of the pancake batter on the griddle.

“You know he isn’t. Remember all the times I had to carry Kris to school?” Asriel replied, grinning. His expression dropped when he saw Toriel narrowing her eyes at him. Although they weren’t discussing it now, it was clear Toriel had plans to talk some more to her son sooner or later about what happened.

“Wash your dishes,” Toriel pointed at the knife and cutting board Asriel was nearly finished using, “and keep an eye on the pancakes for me. It might take a minute to coax your brother from his cocoon.”

Even without saying such, Toriel was disappointed in Asriel. She didn’t have to say a word for Asriel to know. It made the inevitable revealing of Chara’s locket even harder to imagine.

It was as Asriel put the knife and cutting board into the sink he again turned his attention towards the TV. The timing was perfect, because _BREAKING NEWS_ flew across the screen as a revelation was becoming known to the public. A human anchor stood in front of a building with smashed windows and the front door torn right off its hinges. There had been an attack at the facility sometime last night. Monster ashes were just now being discovered at the scene.

Asriel’s heart sank as he recognized the place before he heard the anchor say the name. Jen and Berry’s Nice Cream. The same place Kidd went with Frisk just last night.

Snatching his phone from his jogger pocket, Asriel felt his heart skip a beat when he saw there was still no response from Kidd. Asriel didn’t waste a second to call his best friend. Still no answer.

Again and again Asriel called, but Kidd still wouldn’t pick up the phone. When someone finally answered after his sixth attempt, Asriel released the breath he had been holding since he first saw the news. His words came out in a rush.

“Kidd, thank God you answered! I was freaking out over here! Are you okay? Why weren’t you answering me? Do you have any idea what’s on the news _right as I speak?_ ”

No response.

Asriel felt his heart sinking again. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

“Kidd?”

The person who replied was not said monster.

“Asriel . . .”

Asriel’s mouth went dry. “Frisk? Where’s Kidd? Put him on the phone!”

“I . . . can’t,” the human replied, no emotion to her words whatsoever.

“Why not?!”

“Kidd . . . is indisposed at the moment.”

“What the blazing hell does that mean?” Asriel looked at the screen and nearly dropped his phone at the count of ash piles found within the destroyed shop. “Frisk? Frisk?!”

It was as if she didn’t hear him. “I have to go now.”

“What did you do to him?! _WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!_ ”

Asriel heard the click that signaled his being hung up on. For a moment, all he did was stand rigid as he heard the beeping in his ear. Fingers going slack, Asriel dropped his phone and heard it clatter to the ground.

“Asriel!” Toriel shouted as she ran into the kitchen, Kris not far behind. “I heard you shouting. What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Asriel blinked at his mother before bolting out of the kitchen. She and Kris called after him, but Asriel ignored them both. He had to find help, or at least find someway to understand what happened to Kidd.

Asriel had no idea what was going on, but he knew without a doubt in his mind that the new human in town was to blame.


	5. Chapter 5

Jen and Berry’s was a wreck. The images on the news did not truly display the extent of the damage. Mouth too dry for him to swallow, Asriel looked at the demolished nice cream parlor from a distance. The police taped off the area, and forensics were still on the scene. What was once a bright, colorful place their parents used to take Asriel and his siblings when they needed cheering up was now a horrific crime scene.

It was a good thing Asriel slept in joggers and hoodies instead of actual pajamas, or so he thought as he realized he ran out of his home without putting much thought into what, exactly, he was doing. Asriel ran straight to the scene of the crime. Now he stood at a distance as he tried to figure out what to do next.

Four. That’s how many monsters died there. The ashes had already been collected, but it was still unknown to whom the ashes belonged.

 _Kidd. . . ._ Asriel hoped against hope it wasn’t his only real friend. If Frisk did anything to Kidd, it was because Asriel helped to make that situation possible.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing here?”

Spine rigid, Asriel recognized the voice. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around to see the skeleton monster who made those racist comments about Frisk. Realizing this monster wasn’t alone, Asriel felt his stomach drop at the new addition.

He thought the first monster was large, but in truth the monster was just wide. Still big from the sheer power he radiated, yes, but nothing compared the other skeleton monster towering over him like the grim reaper over the shoulder of a person whose time has come. Whereas Asriel had some height advantage over the first monster, this one left Asriel having to look all the way up.

The skull of the second monster wasn’t as smooth as the first, the edges jagged and the jaw square. His teeth weren’t as sharp but made up for it in their massive size. The skeleton monster’s narrow eyes narrowed even more as he beheld Asriel, looking at the goat monster as if he were no better than an actual goat.

After taking in the second monster, Asriel realized that this monster too was dressed in a black and red suit. His was crisper and sharper, as if he had ironed it before putting it on that morning. In comparison, the shorter monster’s suit had wrinkles that suggested he might have pulled it out from the dirty laundry hamper that same morning.

This told Asriel enough about the monsters to know which one really meant business.

“Hey, kid, are ya deaf?” the shorter one asked after Asriel spent a moment too stunned to reply. “I said, ‘What are you doing here?’”

“I’m, uh, looking for my friend,” Asriel answered, deciding it would be better to tell some of the truth.

“At a crime scene?” the second monster questioned, his high-pitched voice loud as if he spoke in all caps.

“Technically, we’re across from a crime scene,” Asriel tried. He gestured to the destroyed nice cream shop across the street. “See? We’re a good ten yards minimum from the yellow tape. I don’t see a problem here.”

“Yeah, well, we’re going to have to ask you to leave,” the shorter monster said. “There could be evidence within the perimeter, and we don’t want dumb kids like you tampering with it.”

Fists curled and arms tense in case he needed to throw them up, Asriel challenged, “What authority do you have to ask me to leave? Do you have badges of any kind? Are those fancy suits some type of uniform?”

As he struggled to swallow, Asriel watched the other monsters study him just as he studied them. He didn’t know if they would physically remove him if they saw it necessary, but he knew it would hurt if it came down to it. Yet Asriel felt in his gut that these monsters had no better reason being here than he did.

“Move it along, civilians,” a police officer said as she came from the scene to shoo the three monsters away. “This isn’t a freak show. Get out of here so the professionals can do their job in peace, or at least some illusion of peace we can conjure for ourselves every day.”

“Officer Undyne!” Asriel exclaimed when he recognized the fellow monster.

Squinting at Asriel, it took Undyne a moment before she smiled. “Hey, I know you. You’re Asgore’s kid. Yeah, I’m still going to have to ask you to leave.”

“You have to help me,” Asriel said, discarding the skeleton monsters from his immediate worries. “I haven’t been able to contact my friend Kidd since last night, and the last place I know he went was the nice cream place _right there_. I called him again and again, but no one answered until—”

“Enough!” Undyne exclaimed, holding her hands up with her palms out. “Look, I’m sorry you can’t get a hold of your friend, but right now the most you can do is leave the professionals to their job. Have you tried contacting your friend’s parents? Maybe stop by his place and make sure he just didn’t leave his phone on silent? Anything that doesn’t involve you interfering with a police investigation.”

“But Officer Undyne—” Asriel tried, but Undyne cut him off.

“No buts. Now march yours away from the area, or I’ll have you arrested for trespassing. Do I make myself clear?”

Paws trembling, Asriel didn’t know what to do. He wanted to tell Undyne about Frisk, but her attitude made it clear she would not listen to him right now. As much as he knew something was wrong, there was nothing he could do about it to make any sort of difference.

Asriel hadn’t felt this helpless since he woke up that morning and Chara wasn’t in her room.

Defeated, Asriel sighed and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

Trudging away, Asriel overheard Officer Undyne telling the other two monsters to leave as well. He didn’t listen for their response. It became harder to hear over the roaring of blood in his ears.

As the wind blew, Asriel noticed something being tossed on the ground. As it flew in his path, Asriel quickly bent over and retrieved the fabric. Hoping nobody saw him, Asriel walked further away and waited until he had turned a corner and walked a few more yards before he studied what he found.

In his paws was nothing more than pink fabric. Scrunching his nose, Asriel looked it over. There was nothing significant about it, not even blood stains. The only thing worth noting was one edge wasn’t as smooth as the others, as if that part had been cut away from the rest. This may have been nothing more than part of a shirt.

Heart sinking, Asriel realized this was part of a shirt after all. Not just anyone’s shirt, but Frisk’s shirt. What he held was part of the sleeve from the pink shirt she wore last night, the same shirt she likely wore when she and Kidd went to the now demolished Jen and Berry’s Nice Cream shop.

#

Groaning, Kidd grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes further shut. The back of his skull throbbed to the point there must have been a large bruise there that currently received pressure from Kidd lying on his back. His head hurt so much it felt as if someone whacked him in the back of his skull with a large stick.

When he opened his eyes, Kidd’s heart skipped a beat as he realized he was in an unfamiliar room. It was scarcely decorated, with white walls, a small coffee table, and the couch he lied on; and it was empty. Kidd pushed himself upright and looked around. There were large windows, a kitchen behind him, and a hallway near what Kidd assumed was the entrance to this place. Based on the layout, Kidd guessed he was in a studio apartment or something of the sort.

“Hello?” Kidd called, trying with no success to remember what happened. He was getting nice cream with Frisk, then . . . nothing. No matter how hard he tried, Kidd couldn’t remember anything past the nice cream.

Since nobody was in the kitchen, Kidd rose to his wobbly feet and padded down the hallway.

There was both a bathroom and a bedroom on the left-hand side, but Kidd beelined towards the room at the end of the hall. Soft singing grew louder as he approached. When he entered, Kidd had to squint his eyes at the light coming in from all the opened windows and waited for them to adjust.

Frisk stood with her back to him, her attention on one of the many potted plants lined up where they could get the most of the sun in this room. As if in a trance, Frisk stared at the flowers as she continued to sing quietly. The plant she sang to seemed to grow fuller and more colorful by the second.

Heart in his throat, Kidd noticed the faint red outline over Frisk’s hands pouring into the plant. It didn’t appear to be growing. The flowers _were_ growing.

It was at this moment Frisk realized Kidd was there. Shouting his name, Frisk pulled her hands away from the plant and hopped to the side. She stared at him, her large eyes trained on him as if she couldn’t risk looking away for even a second.

Not knowing what to say, Kidd opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally managed, “I know that song.”

Frisk opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was lost when she hesitated. Sighing, she tried again. “Everybody knows that song.”

Cocking his head to the side, Kidd looked Frisk up and down. Something was off about her. Frisk squirmed under his gaze.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as she tucked some loose strands of chocolate hair behind her ear.

“Like someone tried to crack my head open like an egg. What happened?”

“Don’t you remember?”

Again, Kidd tried to recall what took place the night before, but it was all coming up blank. He frowned and answered, “No.”

“You tripped walking off the curb just outside of the nice cream place,” Frisk told him. “You hit your head on the curb pretty hard. I asked if I should take you to the hospital, but you said not to because you can’t afford college _and_ a medical bill. Then you passed out. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I hailed a taxi and brought you here.”

“Really? Wow, I must have hit my head really hard. I can’t remember anything at all.” Kidd again looked around the room. “And where, exactly, is here?”

“Oh, um,” Frisk looked away and began wringing her fingers. “My parents owned a studio apartment in town they rented out before they passed. Er, this is it.”

“I thought you said you were staying at a hotel.”

“I was. I really, _really_ didn’t want to stay here but brought the key anyway in case of emergencies. Like last night.”

“And your bags?”

“I called the hotel in the taxi and asked them to hold those for me. I’m going to pick them up after you feel better and are ready to leave. Which, um, you do feel all right?”

“Just a little confused.” Kidd would have felt a lot better if Frisk didn’t come across so shifty. It was as if everything she told him was a lie and she wasn’t a convincing liar. She still wouldn’t look him in the eye.

“Wait a minute.” Kidd took a few steps closer, his eyes locking with Frisk’s. “I was so sure your eyes were gold, but they’re bright red. Have they always been red?”

Frisk stared at Kidd with her scarlet eyes. Now that he noticed this, Kidd thought he would feel relieved to figure out what was different about Frisk. Yet something was still amiss, and he couldn’t quit put the tip of his tail on it.

Then he looked at the plant she tended moments before he walked into the room. He remembered how it grew and blossomed at her magical touch. Frisk’s literal magical touch.

“In my favorite cartoon as a kid,” he slowly began, “whenever the humans who could use magic did a spell, their eyes would change colors to coordinate with whatever spell they used. Does . . . does that sort of thing happen with real life magicians? Do your eyes change colors whenever you use magic?”

This time, Frisk didn’t hesitate. “Yes. It’s . . . rare for magicians’ eye colors to change whenever we use magic, but not impossible. The difference is the color of our eyes aren’t based on the spells we use, but the color of our souls.”

Kidd nodded to signal he understood, but he wasn’t sure he understood at all. Monster souls were always white. It was as simple as that. Yet human souls, which were notoriously far more powerful than monster souls, came in a variety of colors. There was supposedly different rules and skills each color had, but Kidd wasn’t sure if any of it was true.

“How long do your eyes stay red?” Kidd questioned. “And is this why you typically wear sunglasses, even indoors?”

“My eyes will return to normal anywhere between a few minutes to a couple hours, but never a whole day. And yes, this is why I wear sunglasses. Being a magician . . . It’s complicated. I’m not a monster, but I’m not completely human either. At the end of the day, it’s better if nobody knew. Not . . . not that you would understand.”

“It’s true I wouldn’t,” Kidd admitted, now his turn to look away as he decided whether to say what he considered saying. In the end, he gave in. “However, Chara was a magician, and I saw how that affected her life after Asriel’s family adopted her and Kris. I heard things here and there about how it affected her life before, too. None of it was good. Although she outwardly prided herself on her abilities, I think deep down, she was really miserable to have those abilities at all. Hey, Frisk, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Yet as she said the words, Frisk wiped her eyes. Light reflected off the tears that escaped her fingers and trailed down her cheeks. She curled her fingers into fists and pressed them into her thighs.

“Frisk,” Kidd slowly walked closer, “why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Let me guess: allergies.”

“We _are_ in a room filled with flowers.”

“Frisk . . . did you know Chara?”

“Chara was already dead by the time I was brought to Mt. Ebott.”

Despite what Frisk said, Kidd could see the way her shoulders shook and how her hands trembled. She wiped her eyes again, this time preventing any more tears from escaping. A quiet hiccup passed her lips.

“You wouldn’t be this upset if you never met Chara,” Kidd said slowly, trying as gently as possible to call Frisk out on her lie. “Please, Frisk, I . . . If you can tell me . . . Chara was still alive when you were there, wasn’t she? As strange as it sounds, I get the feeling you _did_ know her. Didn’t you?”

Now the tears were falling harder. As fast as Frisk tried to wipe them away, they fell ever faster than she could stop them. When she took a shaky breath, a strangled cry escaped. Her knuckles dug into her thighs. Frisk appeared as if she would fall apart at any moment.

His own voice cracking, Kidd repeated, “Didn’t you?”

Frisk made eye contact with Kidd, and he watched as the scarlet faded from her honey eyes. Tears kept falling. Her lips wobbled as she prepared herself to say the words it must have torn Frisk up to say.

“I did met Chara. I did know her. Chara saved my life.”


	6. Chapter 6

Kidd nearly fell over at the revelation. Chara was still alive by the time Frisk, the eighth and final victim in the Mt. Ebott murders, was taken there. The two girls had known each other. Chara had saved Frisk’s life, and she must have died as a result.

Hugging herself, Frisk curled up as if she tried to make her form seem smaller. Her tears kept flowing. This time, she didn’t try to wipe them away.

Since Kidd was at a loss for words, Frisk quietly explained, “He . . . whoever he was, kept me in the same pit he kept Chara. We were open to the elements. Little food was provided. Less water. We were only in there a few days, but it felt like months.

“With nothing better to do, we got to know each other. Turns out, we had a lot in common. We clicked immediately. I think . . . had we met under normal circumstances, we would have been best friends. Silly, right?

“Then . . .” Frisk squeezed her eyes shut. “I . . . I don’t remember everything. All I know is Chara fought off the attacker when he came for me and gave me a chance to escape. I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for her. Sometimes . . . sometimes I wonder how Chara died. Other times I think it’s for the better I don’t know.”

As Frisk finished speaking, she kept hugging herself. Her tears kept flowing, and she stared at her toes as if they had all the answers to life’s greatest questions. It reminded Kidd a lot of Asriel, who just shy of fifteen bawled his eyes out as he told Kidd what his parents told him: his missing sister would never be found, and she would never be coming home.

“I . . . Oh, geez . . .” Kidd took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Frisk, I don’t know what to say. I really don’t know if there’s even anything I can say to comfort you.”

“Why would you want to comfort me?” she asked, voice small and weak. “You knew Chara longer than I did. How can my grief compare to yours?”

“For one, we don’t compare our grief with another’s, even if it’s for the same person,” Kidd answered. “Besides, you and Chara went through something traumatic together. If movies have taught me anything, it’s that nothing bonds people like life-and-death situations. Even though you’ve only known Chara for a few days, you still went through something together that none of us can begin to imagine living through. Don’t deny yourself the ability to mourn just because you don’t think you’ve known Chara long enough to mourn for her. At least you knew her better than those kids at school that treated her like an outcast then cried at her memorial service after we realized she was never coming home.”

When Frisk didn’t make any effort to respond, Kidd slowly walked towards her and said, “Come on, give me a hug.”

Frisk didn’t need to be told twice. She immediately stepped towards the monster, wrapped her arms around Kidd’s thin frame, and cried into his shoulder. Kidd rested his chin on the top of her head and wrapped his tail around her waist to hug back.

“It’s not fair,” Frisk hiccupped into him. “Why am I alive, and Chara isn’t? Why am I alive while the other kids had their lives taken from them?”

“That’s not for us to know,” Kidd replied, speaking softly. “All we know is that you _are_ alive.”

“But why me?”

“Why not you?”

Frisk pulled away at this, and Kidd dropped his tail. However, Frisk didn’t take a step back. Her hands still hung onto Kidd’s shoulders.

Feeling the need to keep going, Kidd said, “I get survivor’s guilt must suck, and I don’t have any advice on how to live with it, but you can honor those kids by doing something with your life. Chara died for you, so do something with the life she sacrificed hers for. Even if what you do is live the simplest, happiest life you can. Nobody expects you to change the world. Unless that’s what you want to do. I mean, you want to be a politician. I’m sure some world changing is part of the job description. Then again, what do I know? I haven’t even picked a major yet. Maybe I’m the least qualified person to give any sort of life advice.”

If Frisk hadn’t started giggling, Kidd would have kept going. Feeling bashful, Kidd smiled at Frisk and hoped his rambling wasn’t too annoying. Then Frisk thanked him for helping her feel better, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek.

While Kidd stood with his spine rigid and face burning, Frisk walked away and began reorganizing her plants. It took him a moment before he realized that she spoke to him. Another moment later, and he understood what she said.

“Do you want to go get breakfast? There’s nothing in the fridge. Actually, the fridge didn’t begin working again until last night, so I hope nothing’s in it.”

“Sure, I’m actually feeling kinda hungry.”

“Is your head all right?”

“I still have a headache, but I’ll live. Yo, Frisk?”

“Hmmm?” Frisk turned away from her flowers and looked at him with her large eyes. The remains of her tears were still evident on her face. Kidd didn’t want to start them again, but he had to ask.

“Did . . . did you meet any of the other kids?”

Frisk shook her head. “No. I didn’t even know there were others until I got away. Until then, I didn’t consider that the missing children I did hear about were connected to what I was going through.”

“Did Chara meet any of the other children?”

“She was even more clueless than I was,” Frisk answered.

“I see. Sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s okay. As much as I don’t like talking about what happened, I don’t want to pretend it never did. Not exactly the easiest balance to find, however.” She turned back to the flowers. “We can leave after I finish tending these plants. They need a literal magic touch to help them return to full health.”

Kidd cocked his head to the side. “If nobody was here until last night, where did the flowers come from?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“Okay.” Kidd looked around. “Frisk, one last thing.”

“Shoot.”

“Where’s my phone?”

“Oh, erm,” Frisk tapped her fingers against her thigh. “Yeah, that died, and I don’t have a charger. I did manage to contact your family before it died to let them know that you wouldn’t be home but that you were fine.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Kidd sighed. “I can’t begin to imagine how anyone would react if I just totally went missing and didn’t answer my phone.”

* * *

Asriel was getting ready to lose it. Kidd’s phone went straight to voicemail now, and no matter how long or how far Asriel wandered through New Home, he saw no sight of Kidd or Frisk. He already anticipated the worst, and he would have thrown up had he eaten breakfast with how tightly his stomach knotted in the hours looking for Kidd.

Defeated, Asriel threw himself onto the bench of a bus stop and placed his face in his paws. It couldn’t end like this. One way or another, he had to figure out what Frisk was really up to, why she would target his family, and why she would let so much danger and destruction happen to innocent people. Perhaps surviving such a traumatic experience left the girl mentally disturbed; she didn’t speak for a year after she was found, after all. Or maybe the fiend who caused so much pain and heartache let her go on purpose for some grand scheme in this messed up game.

Shaking his head, Asriel dismissed the thought. This was real life, not some fantasy story. There wasn’t always a “grand scheme of things,” just bad things happening to good people because bad people made bad decisions. This was the life he lived. Where Frisk, who survived the very thing that killed his sister, fit into all of this was the closest Asriel would ever get to figuring out what had really happened to Chara.

“Asriel, are you okay?”

With a sigh, Asriel removed his face from his paws and sat upright. He looked over to see Pro. Alphys sitting across from him on the bus bench. The short, yellow dinosaur monster smiled at him, her bucktooth making her look adorably dorky. It seemed Pro. Alphys’s lectures clothes were also her casual clothes – a black skirt that went to the ground and a red and black striped shirt. The only thing missing was her lab coat.

“No,” Asriel admitted. “I can’t get a hold of Kidd, and the last time I talked to him, he was getting nice cream.”

Pro. Alphys must have seen the news, because her face paled as she turned away. She said, “That’s scary, but I’m sure he’s fine. When I saw your dad last night, he told me about this human that came in. Said she must know something about plants, because the dying flower I picked up was healthy again. He went on to say that he thinks Kidd has a massive crush on her, because after she left, he went after her.”

“I know Kidd was with a human,” Asriel muttered. “I fail to see how that makes him fine.”

“Whatever attacked that shop and killed those monsters didn’t hurt a human,” Alphys explained. “Undyne called me an hour ago and told me there was no evidence of any human being there at the time of the attack. If Kidd was with the human, and no human was hurt, I think they should have left plenty of time before the attack.”

The lack of any humans being hurt was the least of Asriel’s concerns. He was more worried about humans, or more specifically one human, doing all the hurting. Although it wasn’t as if he could voice this to his biology professor.

“Wait a minute,” Asriel said, snapping his head towards Pro. Alphys, “did you say Undyne? As in Officer Undyne?”

“Yes.” Pro. Alphys narrowed her eyes. “She’s my girlfriend. We’ve been together for over a year now. Don’t you pay attention when I show you guys my Monstergram posts in class?”

“Sorry, I just zone out of that portion of class.” Asriel weakly smiled as Pro. Alphys glared at him, but she didn’t say anything about it. “Anyway, about Undyne . . . does she know that Frisk, the eight Mt. Ebott victim, is in New Home?”

Pro Alphys began to shake so hard she nearly fell off the bench. Asriel was about to freak out that she was having a seizure when Pro. Alphys shouted, “The sole survivor of the Mt. Ebott Murders is _here_?!”

“I was shocked too,” Asriel replied, choosing to not go into detail. “That’s the human Kidd was with.”

Muttering incohesive nonsense under her breath, Pro. Alphys began wringing her claws. The only things Asriel caught were, “That flower was supposed to be dying . . . it’s healthy now . . . said she must have a way with plants . . . what happens if a flower . . .”

“Pro. Alphys,” Asriel gently called, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m _FINE_!”

Asriel wasn’t so sure his professor was fine. If anything, he was certain she was about to have a mental breakdown. Rumor had it that Pro. Alphys’s breakdowns were legendary, and for the longest time, Asriel secretly hoped to witness one of them. Now that she appeared to be having one, he regretted ever hopping to see such an event. He was the only here to calm her down, and Asriel didn’t have the slightest idea how he would begin to do that.

Since Pro. Alphys kept mentioning a flower, Asriel asked, “What kind of flower? You said it was supposed to be dying. What would you want with a dying flower?”

Taking a deep breath, Pro. Alphys calmly answered, “I needed a flower . . . for an experiment. . . . Asgore said he had one, but it was dying. . . . I told him it would be perfect. . . . Bu-but when I pi-picked it up, it was alive and healthy! Asgore said that the human . . . the hu-human—”

“‘Had a way with plants,’” Asriel finished. His jaw went slack when he realized what this meant. “Frisk is a magician!”

“Oh dear, oh dear.” Pro. Alphys held her head. “This is too much to take in. Far too much!”

Pro. Alphys had said it.

His mind going blank, Asriel could only recall everything he knew about magicians. Humans couldn’t use magic. It was a scientific fact. Yet magicians defied the odds and still existed, although nobody was sure how they came to be.

According to legends, there was only one way for a human to possess magic: kill a monster and absorb its soul. The magic from the monster soul would course through the human’s being, granting said human the ability to use that monster’s magic. Magicians were said to be descended from those same monster-soul-stealing murderers.

Asriel never believed the legend, but Chara wholeheartedly did. Humans and monsters were completely different species; there was no reason for Chara to have purely human DNA and monster magic. Only Chara did have magic, and she was far more skilled with hers than Asriel ever was with his own.

Her magic was the reason she and Kris, who never displayed any magical abilities whatsoever, were abandoned by their biological parents. It was why nobody wanted to adopt the human siblings. Had the news not reached the church Asriel’s family went to and touched Toriel’s and Asgore’s hearts to take in these children, odds were the two humans would have spent much, much longer in the foster care system than their little over a year.

And like Chara, Frisk had magic.

Humans were dangerous enough to monsters. Despite their lack of magic, a human’s determination to so much as hurt a monster made them a threat to monsterkind, and a monster’s magic was his greatest and only defense. A human with magic, on the other hand . . .

Asriel swore and jumped to his feet. “I’m going to keep looking for Kidd. Maybe he’s gone home. I haven’t tried contacting his family yet. Uh, I’ll see you Monday, Pro. Alphys.”

“Ye-yeah, see you in class, Asriel.” Pro. Alphys weakly smiled and waved, and Asriel returned the gesture.

While he stalked through the city streets, Asriel deeply and heavily hoped and prayed that Frisk was not as powerful a magician as Chara was. The more powerful Frisk was, the more dangerous she would be. And Asriel had already given her enough reason to not like him.

* * *

“Oh, my gosh, I’m starving.” Frisk plopped into the booth and picked up a menu. The two decided to go to Grillby’s for breakfast. “I want the largest breakfast bowl this place has to offer.”

“Those only come in one size, y’know,” Kidd said, and when Frisk grinned at him, he returned it.

Frisk currently wore her glasses to hide her red eyes. Although they didn’t look bad, the red eyes didn’t give Frisk the same innocent look as her natural gold did. Whenever Frisk looked at Kidd with her red eyes, he was pretty sure she thought about how easily she could hurt him if she wanted.

“What can I get you two to drink?” a human waitress asked as she came over, a notepad in hand.

“Hot chocolate,” Frisk answered without taking her eyes off the menu.

Kidd only blinked before he told the waitress, “Orange juice, please.”

After the waitress had gone, Kidd teased, “Did you and your best friend coffee have a fight recently?”

“Sometimes I just prefer to mix it up,” Frisk returned, lightly kicking him in the shin. “So, what are you thinking about getting?”

When the two decided what they wanted, Kidd began, “So, your parents owned an apartment in New Home all this time?”

Frisk nodded. “My dad was a broker and my mom a CPA. Needless to say, they knew finances. The apartment was just one of their many incomes. They left me more than enough to take my gap year, considering I spend the money wisely. I would much rather they be here, however. All the money in the world could never take away that pain.”

“If you had any other living relatives, do you think that would help you decide where to go to college?”

There was no hesitation. “Definitely. I had always wanted and planned to stay close to my family. Then the whole not having a family thing happened, and I have been stuck ever since.”

“Man, Frisk,” Kidd tried to find the words, “you’ve been through so much. I can’t begin to imagine how you even did it.”

A small smile on her face, Frisk simply stated, “Let’s just say I had a really good friend who was there for me every step of the way.”

Before Kidd could begin to respond, he noticed a white figure walk past the glass doors. The figure stopped, backtracked, and looked inside. It was Asriel, and he did _not_ look happy.

“What’s wrong?” Frisk asked, a frown forming on her face. Kidd’s face must have shown what he was thinking, because Frisk prompted, “What is it? What bad thing is about to happen?”

Watching as Asriel stormed into the café and stomped towards their table, Kidd barely managed to answer, “Asriel just arrived, and it’s about to get ugly."


	7. Chapter 7

"I have been _all over_ town looking for you!" Asriel snapped, Kidd flinching at the sound of Asriel's raised voice. "You don't answer your phone all morning, then I take one look at the news and have freaking heart attack. Do you have any idea what was going through my head? What I was beginning to think? Would it have killed you to answer your damn phone so I could know you weren't dead?!"

"Leave him alone!" Frisk shouted when Kidd was too stunned to reply. "How was he supposed to know what's been going on with you?"

If Frisk wasn't a girl, Asriel wouldn't have tried so hard to resist throwing a punch. How dare this human scare him with her shifty wording about Kidd being disposed then act as if Asriel had no right to be furious. He could barely see through all the red clouding his vision and could hardly hear over the blood roaring in his ears.

"What even is going on?" Kidd interjected before Asriel finished selecting a few choice words for Frisk. "Asriel, you never thought twice about it before when it took me more than a day to respond. Why is this suddenly an unforgivable crime?"

"Don't be a dumbass, Kidd!"

"Kind of hard when I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"

"Haven't you seen the news! Jen and Berry's was attacked last night! Monsters _died_! When I couldn't get a hold of you, what else was I supposed to think?"

Asriel watched as the color drained from Kidd's face. The lizard monster opened and closed his mouth a few times, at a loss for words. Then he muttered, "You could have called my family, y'know. They knew where I was."

"That's no excuse for not answering your phone." Asriel knew Kidd had a point but chose not to admit it. He then turned his attention towards Frisk to see her own features growing pale under her large sunglasses. Although she no longer looked at Asriel, instead she blankly stared into some unseen distance. It was then Asriel noticed that she wore the same thing she did the night before, and some of the sleeve from her shirt noticeable missing.

"What happened at Jen and Berry's?" he asked Frisk. "Something happened that destroyed the place and killed those innocent monsters. Did you have anything to do with it?"

"What? No!" Frisk answered, snapping back to reality. "Asriel, I would never—"

"Then what happened to your shirt! It wasn't ripped last night when you were at my house."

"In case you haven't noticed, Kidd has sharp spikes on the top of his head. One of them caught my sleeve when I tried to help him up – he tripped and hit his head, by the way – and it must have ripped my sleeve in the process. Not exactly damning evidence."

"Listen here, you puny little—"

Asriel cut himself off when he felt an intense heat on his back. Turning around, he saw Grillby standing behind him, arms crossed. Without saying a single word, the fire monster's message was clear.

_Get out._

Grillby didn't mean just Asriel, either. He meant all three of them. The fire monster was the kind of guy who didn't like fights, verbal or physical, inside his restaurant, and Asriel knew from experience not to ignore Grillby's first and final warning.

Grumbling, Asriel stalked outside, Kidd and Frisk following behind. Once they were out the doors and off the property, Asriel spun on his heel and glared at Frisk. After everything this woman put him through the moment she came to town, he was more than ready to never see her again. Yet he still had one question to ask. Despite how he felt towards the human, there was one last thing he needed to know.

"How did you get Chara's locket?"

Asriel didn't realized how long it had been since he said Chara's name until that moment and the name didn't feel natural coming from his mouth. Once upon a time, he called the name often, speaking to his sister constantly. Now, he wasn't sure he said her name right. He didn't let it show on his face, however. Frisk didn't need to know that she had been right about this one thing.

When Frisk failed to respond, Kidd took a step forward and softly said, "Frisk knew Chara, Asriel. On the mountain . . . They—"

"LIES!" Asriel summoned balls of fire in both hands and held them at his sides. "That human never knew my sister!"

"Asriel . . . you don't know anything."

Turning his attention towards her, Asriel watched as Frisk slowly tensed under his gaze. Regardless, she didn't take a step back or even lower her eyes as she removed her sunglasses. Eyes locked with his, she simply stated, "I did meet Chara. I got to know her. We know each other better than anyone could know another person."

Although Asriel's flames didn't burn higher, they did burn hotter. Frisk still didn't back down. She had some nerve claiming that she knew Chara better than Asriel, Chara's best friend and brother, ever did.

"Tell me one thing about Chara," Asriel challenged. "Just one thing that isn't common knowledge. Go on. I'm waiting."

When Frisk hesitated, Asriel thought she would finally step back and admit her deceit. It was obvious she was debating with herself what to say. There was no way she could lie herself out of this.

That was why it surprised Asriel when Frisk stated, "Chara attempted suicide."

Asriel was so stunned, his flames died on his palms. Kidd, shocked by the news, made a choking sound, but Frisk paid the mosnter no mind. In a flat tone, Frisk told the story nobody besides Asriel should have known.

"When you both were twelve, Chara ate buttercups from your dad's garden. She was trying to poison herself. If you didn't catch her in the act and convinced her to self-induce vomiting, she would have grown incredibly ill and died. Chara made you swear to never, ever tell anyone. Not even your parents."

Hands shaking so hard Asriel balled them into fists, the monster tried with no success to regain control of himself. Walking in on Chara eating buttercups, which they had learned in school a few weeks prior were incredibly poisonous, was the scariest thing Asriel had ever lived through, or it was until he walked into her room to wake her up only to find she wasn't there. Not even in the five years since Chara's passing Asriel never breathed word of her suicide attempt to anyone.

There was no reason for Frisk to know about this, unless . . .

Kidd's voice sounded weak and frail as he mumbled, "But . . . Chara was the happiest person I knew."

"She only pretended to be happy," Asriel whispered.

"Look, Asriel," Frisk began as she hugged herself, "I know I'm not your favorite person, and for good reasons. But I never meant to hurt anyone by coming here. I understand that you're in a lot of pain—"

"You understand?" Asriel interrupted, his fists trembling. " _You understand?_ How dare you try to pretend you have any idea what it's like for me to lose my sister, what it was like for our family! Here you are, alive and well, while we never had a body to bury. We never got to say goodbye. I don't care if you knew Chara. I don't care if you were friends. Losing Chara destroyed our lives. You can't even _begin_ to imagine what it was like knowing you were never going to see your best friend again and never going to know what happened to her. So stop acting like you understand, because you don't know anything!"

As Asriel tried to regain control of his breathing, Frisk bit her lower lip as she dug her nails into her arms. Although Frisk looked to be on the verge of tears, she did not let them fall. Instead, she remained calm as she replied, "True, I don't understand what it's like to lose a sister and best friend, but there's so much _you_ don't understand either."

" _Seeing you like this would break Chara's heart."_

Asriel didn't know who this human thought she was. He might not have been on his best behavior the whole time they knew each other, but Frisk was the one who forced herself into his life as if she had any right to it. Try as he might to be grateful Frisk returned Chara's locket, it did nothing to undo all his pent-up frustration and anger.

Before Asriel could so much as open his mouth to respond, Kidd stepped between Asriel and Frisk. Glaring at the goat monster, Kidd said, "Enough, Asriel. This is going too far. I'm sorry you thought I was dead, but there's no need to take it out on Frisk."

"Are you seriously taking her side?" Asriel snarled, baring his teeth. "We've been friends since kindergarten, and you're going to throw it all away for some human you think is cute and gives you the time of day?"

Kidd winced, the pain evident in his features. Yet he calmly replied with, "This isn't about sides. This is about you not getting it through your head that not everything is an attack. Why does it upset you so much that Frisk was friends with Chara? You want to get angry at her for not understanding what you went through, but do _you_ understand what she went through? While she's been trying to give you some piece of your sister back, you have been nothing but an asshole to her. Perhaps if you even tried to talk to her—"

"There's nothing she could say that's worth me hearing."

Kidd shook his head. "Admit it, you might act like you're mad at Frisk, and you might actually believe that you are, but this isn't about Frisk at all."

Narrowing his eyes, Asriel asked, "Then who is it about?"

There was no hesitation when Kidd answered, "This is about Chara. You're mad at Chara and refuse to confess it, even to yourself."

"I am not mad at Chara!"

"Yes, you are! You acknowledged that you're mad at the person who stole her from your home and killed her, you acknowledged that you're mad at yourself for not protecting her, but you never acknowledged that you're mad at Chara herself for dying."

"Why would I be mad at her when that wasn't her fault?"

"Because she left you! It wasn't Chara's fault she died, but that doesn't change that her death meant leaving us. You felt like she abandoned you, then your parents abandoned you in their own way by getting their divorce, and in turn you pushed everyone away. All anyone ever tried to do was help you! We both know I'm the only friend you have left. While you pushed all your other friends out of your life, I stuck by your side even though it was harder than if I just walked away too. And now you're making it hard again." Then, as if everything Kidd already said wasn't enough of a blow already, Kidd quietly added, "Maybe you should consider going back to anger management."

Muscles tensed and teeth bared, Asriel growled deep in his throat. "If you think for one second—"

"Shut up!"

The sound of Frisk yelling silenced Asriel. He watched as the human moved from behind Kidd and glared at Asriel. When she spoke, she kept her voice low.

"Stop it right now. Stop fighting. Stop placing blame. Just stop. If my being here angers you so much, then I'll leave. It's clear you will make my life a living hell if I chose to remain. I will do us both a favor and make sure our paths never cross again."

"Frisk . . . ," Kidd whispered, unable to say anything beyond her name.

Sliding her scarlet eyes to Kidd, Frisk replied, "I'm sorry. I truly am, but you have to agree it's for the better if I go. There's nothing keeping me here anyway. Thank you for your company. I . . . I'll miss you."

Without another word, Frisk began walking away. Her fists barely swung by her sides she was so tense. Asriel watched her go, not sure if he trusted this was genuine or only an act.

"If Chara could see you now, what would she think?"

Heart skipping a beat, Asriel turned his attention to Kidd. The lizard monster didn't look angry or frustration. Kidd looked tired, as if this was a routine he had done so many times before that he was sick of it by this point.

Which, if what he said before was true, might be exactly the case.

" _Seeing you like this would break Chara's heart."_

When Asriel failed to respond, Kidd too turned around and walked away. Just like that, Asriel was all alone. With a heavy sigh and nothing better to do, Asriel stuck his hands in his pockets and began to walk home.

#

"You guys don't have to walk me home."

"Of course we do!"

"What about you two?"

"I'll walk Ralsei home."

"And you?"

Susie laughed. "No need to worry about me. It's everyone else you should worry about!"

"That's what worries me," Ralsei mumbled as he hugged his textbooks closer to himself. "You know, Susie, you're always welcome to spend the night. No need to be out late by yourself."

"Eh, I'll take my chances."

It's not that it was too late, but Kris had stayed out past curfew. After school let out for the day, Ralsei suggested the group of friends go to the library to begin researching for their report. Those initial hours were spent productively, with Kris, Carla, and Ralsei all finding great sources to the topics they wanted to research. Susie, on the other hand, wandered to the computer lab. Nobody asked what she spent her time doing.

It wasn't until Toriel called that Kris realized he had been out too late. Although, looking back, he probably should have considered leaving shortly after Carla did. Not that he would have wanted to go home when currently the depressing atmosphere still lingered in the house and those inside it.

"Did you know the attack on Jen and Berry's was a terrorist attack?"

Kris didn't need to look at Ralsei to know that the fluffy black goat monster was rolling his eyes. Pushing his glasses up his snout, Ralsei told Susie, "Not everything is a conspiracy theory."

"Then why is the footage from the security camera across the street missing?" Susie challenged. "There is no reason police can't watch the footage to figure out who attacked the shop and killed those monsters. Well, no reason except it's missing!"

"Susie!" Ralsei scolded. "Did you spend our entire time at the library looking that up instead of researching for your report?"

"Can it, fluffy butt. The report ain't due till next month."

"You're not going to wait until the night before to write it then hope for a C, are you?"

"So what if I do?"

"Is this footage really missing?" Kris asked, his interest piqued. "As in, this isn't some idea why it hasn't been released to the public yet or anything?"

"It's gone," Susie insisted. "There hasn't been an official report about it yet, but more than one source can confirm that there is a whole hour stripped away. One minute the shop is fine, then carnage. The real theories come into play with what's actually on the tape."

"Such as?" Kris questioned, prompting Ralsei to mutter, "Please, don't encourage her."

Waving a hand, Susie said, "This is where a lot of the bull crap comes in. Some say vandals. Others say a bombing. The problem is all the witnesses are dead, so nobody knows for sure."

"What's the strangest theory?"

"It's so stupid, you won't believe it. There is one person who insists he saw the footage before it vanished. Said that the place was attacked by a white blob."

Kris pinched his brows together. "A white blob?"

"Told you it's stupid."

"I don't know," Ralsei said. "This sounds really scary."

"You can't even walk past a haunted ghost ride without freaking out."

"That's not what I mean, Susie. I mean we don't know what happened, and each suggestion is going to be worse than the last."

"Which means when we finally learn the truth, we're going to be disappointed how mundane it is compared to the crazy theories." Susie shrugged. "It's nothing to worry your little goat head off over."

"Until we know what happened, we have every reason to worry."

"I agree with Ralsei," Kris said. "Things like this don't happen without suspects getting arrested."

Whatever Susie responded, Kris didn't hear it. As he finished speaking, he noticed a figure on the other side of the street. It was tall and human in shape. Something about the slim form was terribly familiar to him. However, this person wore an oversized hoodie that covered his face, making it hard to determine who this was.

While Susie and Ralsei broke out into an argument – or more like Susie raising her voice while Ralsei quietly but forcefully trying to disagree – Kris crossed the street when it was safe and followed the figure. It crossed his mind that by following this person, he wasn't much better than Frisk following him after school, but Kris convinced himself that this was different. Deep down in his gut, Kris believed he knew this person. He only wanted to figure out who this was. Once he knew, he would either say hi or walk away. There was nothing that creepy about it.

Kris watched as this person entered a computer store. Staying outside, Kris peeked through the window and watched what happened inside. Maybe this person would pull down his hood and reveal his face, and Kris's question would be answered.

The gingerbread man monster who worked at the store came from the back, the smile on his face indicating that he was greeting the customer until he realized who it was. His smile fell. He stumbled back and slammed into a wall.

Heartrate accelerating, Kris pulled his switchblade from his pocket. He kept the blade hidden, only wanting to hold the weapon as a security measure. If need be, he would flick out the blade and hold it ready.

Trembling where he stood, the monster spoke with the humanoid form. The voices were too muffled to make out what either was saying, but Kris could tell this was not a pleasant conversation. When the hooded person advanced, the monster pressed himself further against the wall. He was crying now. It seemed he was begging.

Then the figure did something Kris would never have seen coming.

Instead of pulling a weapon from his coat, the person summoned one into existence. A red knife – _a red knife –_ appeared in his hand. Whoever this hooded figure was, he was a magician.

Kris should have looked away. He should have turn and ran in search of the police. Yet his feet were glued to the ground, and his eyes were pinned open.

As if in slow motion, Kris watched as the magician stabbed the monster in the chest. That one hit was enough. The monster's face twisted in a silent scream, the monster faded to white, and the monster's ashes scattered across the store. Only a soul remained. It hovered in the air for a split second before it shattered just as the monster's body did.

Although Kris didn't scream – he was too shocked to utter a sound – the magician turned his attention towards Kris as if he called for attention. Kris's heart skipped a beat. Although he still couldn't see the magician's face, Kris now got a good enough look at the form to know that the magician was female.

Red knife still in hand, the magician advanced towards the store door. Kris didn't waste a second to begin running. He needed to alert the police, but he needed to get to safety first.

Kris bolted down the street, pushing humans and monsters out of the way as he rushed to someplace safe. Many called out to him to watch where he was going, but Kris ignored them. He had more important things to worry about than knocking into someone so that they dropped their groceries.

Which was exactly what he did.

Colliding so hard with the monster that Kris fell backwards, the human froze when he looked up from the fallen produce and broken eggs to see a thin skeleton monster towering over him.

"Look what you did, you little brat!" the monster shouted as he knelt down and began collecting the fruit and searching for eggs that weren't damaged by the fall. "Hasn't anyone taught you to not run on a busy street?"

"Sorry!" Kris exclaimed, helping to pick up the fruit so he could get away. He risked a look over his shoulder, but he didn't see the magician behind him. Hoping against hope, Kris thought that perhaps the magician didn't notice him at all.

"Kris!" Susie cried as she and Ralsei ran up to him.

"We were looking all over for you," the goat monster said. "Where did you go?"

"Someplace he shouldn't have gone."

Blood turning to ice, Kris turned around to see the magician standing over him. Kris would have pointed his pocketknife at her, but it was no longer in his hand. He must have dropped it when he crashed into the skeleton monster.

"Papyrus," the magician began, speaking softly, "does the machine still work?"

"What the hell is going on?" Susie snarled. Ralsei hid behind the intimidating lizard monster.

It was as Kris was about to shout for help that he realized everyone around them was frozen. Kris's scream was caught in his throat. He looked around, unsure why everyone suddenly went from alive with motion to still as stone.

"The machine works perfectly," the skeleton monster, Papyrus, said as he slowly stood upright as if this magician was a commander of sorts. "Are you sure we want to use it?"

"We're already drawing too much attention to ourselves. We need to find our missing friend as quickly as possible then lie low until everyone else forgets what happened."

Not for the first time in his life, Kris tried to summon a weapon. Any weapon. It didn't even have to be a good weapon, just something with which he could try defending himself. Chara had always told Kris he should be grateful he was not cursed with the same magic she was, but in this moment, Kris found not being a magician a greater curse than being one.

Finding his voice, Kris weakly asked, "What are you going to do to us?"

He knew it was bad when even Susie didn't start threatening the others if they so much as dared touched her or her friends.

For half a moment, the magician looked down on Kris. Then she lowered her hood, revealing her face. Kris lost his breath, suddenly understanding why even from afar she looked so familiar.

"You," he whispered, unable to believe what looked him right in the eyes.

Even Susie and Ralsei were at a loss for words.

The magician cocked her head to the side, studying him. Then she smiled and knelt down. Using her index finger, she lifted his chin up and answered his question.

"We're not going to hurt you or your friends," she promised. "That would cause us too much trouble. However, it would be better for all of us if you simply forgot we met like this."


	8. Chapter 8

It was with shaking hands and a racing heart Asriel was about to leave the house in a frantic search for the second time that day when Kris finally came home. Asriel knew the moment his little brother decided to grace the family with his presence, because Toriel began shouting. Their mother rarely raised her voice, so Asriel knew how bad it was when Toriel started _yelling_.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHY DID YOU TAKE SO LONG TO GET HOME?! KRIS, ARE YOU TRYING TO DRIVE ME TO AN EARLY GRAVE?! WHY DIDN’T YOU ANSWER YOUR PHONE?! I HOPE YOU DON’T HAVE ANY PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR, BECAUSE YOU ARE GROUNDED, YOUNG MAN!”

Asriel winced, empathizing with his brother’s pain but choosing to stay out of it. He was in his room, grabbing his coat when the yelling started. Now he decided to stay in his room for the rest of the night if he could help it.

Putting his headphones on in attempt to block out most of the yelling, Asriel tried with no success to do his homework. He couldn’t stop thinking about his encounter with Kidd and Frisk. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Kidd said to him.

That was ridiculous. Asriel wasn’t mad at Chara for dying. Although he was plenty mad at Frisk for claiming that she knew Chara better than Asriel did.

 _But how would Frisk know that Chara—_ Asriel shook his head, not letting himself finish the thought. Chara had begged Asriel to never tell anyone what she tried to do. He promised to never speak a word, and he didn’t. He knew Chara wouldn’t change her mind and tell another person, either. There was no reason under the sky Frisk should know Chara attempted suicide.

Yet not only did Frisk know, she knew all the details. Buttercups. That was Chara’s poison of choice. Most people would never think of using flowers to kill themselves. The odds of Frisk fabricating that story only for every word of it to be true were so slim they were almost nonexistent.

 _No,_ Asriel forced himself to admit. _They_ are _nonexistent. There’s no way Frisk would know what Chara had tried to do unless Chara herself told Frisk. But why would Chara tell Frisk? Why this random kid? How could they have possibly formed that kind of friendship within their situation?_

Seemingly against his will, Asriel’s eyes traveled to the white box on the corner of his desk. Ever since he discovered the truth about Frisk, Asriel put Chara’s locket back into the box and had not looked at it since. He couldn’t bring himself to. While it was missing, Asriel could believe that perhaps Chara was out there, lost but trying to find her way home again. It was childish and impossible – her DNA was found at the facility, leaving no doubt that Chara was the first victim before the other children began to go missing – but with no final goodbye, Asriel could believe that one day she would show up at home, smile at him, and say, “Greetings, Rei. It’s been a long time, has it not?”

Only Frisk had the locket this whole time. Chara would never take it off, not unless . . .

A fat tear fell from Asriel’s eye, rolled down his cheek, and dripped from his chin.

Not unless Chara knew she was never going to see her brother again and wanted Frisk to give back the very locket he had given Chara all those years ago.

A knock on the door jolted Asriel out of his thoughts. Wiping his eyes with his paws, Asriel removed his headphones and raised his voice loud enough for whoever knocked to hear him say, “Come in.”

Without a word, Kris entered the room and plopped face first onto Asriel’s bed. Asriel turned off his laptop and stared at his younger brother for a moment. When Kris was ready, he would speak.

After three minutes – _Strange, it usually takes him thirty._ – Kris rolled onto his back, stared at the ceiling, and began, “I really don’t know what happened. We were leaving the library, then . . . I don’t know.”

Asriel tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Exactly that: _I don’t know_.” Kris sighed. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember what happened. We were walking home, then suddenly, we weren’t. It’s as if there’s this block in my memory, Asriel. Something’s wrong, but I can’t even begin to figure out what.”

Taking a deep breath, Asriel spun back around and faced his desk. When he saw his reflection in his laptop, Asriel closed it. There was only so much he could face in one day, and himself was not on the list.

“You’re under a lot of stress, Kris,” Asriel said. “Mom and Dad won’t even so much as be in the same room anymore, it’s been five years yesterday since we lost Chara, and we had your freaking stalker over for dinner. You’re going through too much for your mind to keep up with. It’s cooping anyway it can. Gaps in my memory happened too during times I was stressed out.”

“This isn’t the same thing,” Kris argued. “Something bad happened, and I can’t remember it! I wouldn’t have purposely stayed out later and worry Mom even more. Not unless there was a real reason.”

Asriel rested his chin in his paw. “You said you were walking home with your friends. Did they also experience this missing gap in their minds?”

Silence, and then a small, “No.”

“So, they didn’t feel like they were missing any time at all?”

“Susie thought I might have studied too hard. But I’m not crazy!”

“I didn’t say you were crazy.”

“But you’re thinking it, aren’t you? You don’t believe something happened that I can’t remember.”

“Kris, do you ever hear yourself?” Asriel spun back around to face his brother. “Sorry if I don’t believe everything you say, but I have been going through some hard things too. I can’t waste energy worrying over every little thing that bothers you.”

Although Kris still stared at the ceiling, Asriel could see his brother’s expression darkening. It wouldn’t have been the first time Kris called human under the bed. Not to mention the time he literally was the human under the bed. Asriel wasn’t the only one who went through a phase immediately after losing Chara. Kris also fell into a dark path, only his wasn’t as initially obvious as his older brother’s.

What Asriel expected was for Kris to argue about how Asriel didn’t always listen to him. Instead he surprised Asriel when he said, “I wish I wasn’t a normal human.”

Asriel blinked. “Come again?”

“You don’t get it,” Kris began, draping an arm over his eyes. “My parents and brother are monsters. My sister was a magician. You three can summon flames. Chara could summon knives. I’m just a human. I can’t summon anything.”

Furrowing his brows, Asriel muttered, “I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

“It has to do with my being the most powerless person in this family!” Kris exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “If any of you were in trouble, you can use your magic to fight. You could defend yourselves. Me? All I have is a stupid pocketknife, a pocketknife that is mysteriously missing since that thing that happened that I can’t remember happening. If I could fight with fire or magically create weapons of my choosing, I wouldn’t have to be so scared all the time. Except I am, because for some reason only Chara was born a magician while I was stuck without any magic whatsoever!”

“Kris,” Asriel curled his fingers into fists, his eyes still burning from before his brother entered the room, “the only reason your biological parents abandoned you two was because of Chara’s magic. She hated humanity for how they mistreated her over something she never asked for. I think she was always glad you got the chance she never had, the chance to be human and nothing more.”

It was silent for a moment before Kris muttered, “Our birth parents were terrible people, Asriel. You heard some of the stories. You know some of the things Chara and I went through. If Chara didn’t have magic, who knows where we would be right now.”

 _Chara might still be alive if you two never came to live with us,_ Asriel thought, but he wouldn’t bring himself to say it. He never would have met Chara otherwise. There were small, selfish parts of Asriel that would not want to give up meeting Chara even if it meant saving her life.

“Whatever.” Kris pushed himself from Asriel’s bed and walked towards the door. “If Chara could be a prodigy and still not protect herself, then maybe it makes no difference whether or not I have magic.”

To that, Asriel had no response. He merely watched as his brother walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Fingers on his laptop but hesitating to open it, Asriel stared at nothing.

It wasn’t the first time Asriel wondered why Chara couldn’t protect herself. Chara was a gifted magician and a talented fighter. Even if she was against a monster, she should have one way or another managed to get away.

Then again, that’s what Asriel always believed. It wasn’t as if Asriel was there. He had no way of knowing how hard Chara fought, if at all, and what ultimately brought her down.

 _But how did Frisk escape?_ Asriel leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He didn’t doubt Frisk was also a magician, but she didn’t seem all that special. Yet somehow, Frisk was able to get away instead of Chara.

_Why her and not Chara?_

Asriel planted his face in his palms. The voices of the recent past kept speaking to him. All Asriel could do was wish he could mute it.

_“You’re mad at Chara and refuse to confess it, even to yourself.”_

_“Seeing you like this would break Chara’s heart.”_

“I’m not mad at Chara,” Asriel muttered into his palms, “and she can’t see me anyway so there’s no need to worry about her heart being broken.”

Without warning, Asriel’s spine went rigid. It felt as if someone watched him. Prying his face from his paws, Asriel turned his attention towards his window. He swallowed as he stood to his feet. Asriel looked out the window as he stepped towards it.

There was a slim hooded figure standing outside. A figure Asriel immediately recognized as a human woman. She stood across the street, and it appeared she was staring at the house.

She and Asriel must have made eye contact, because Asriel felt a chill running down his spine.

After half a moment, the woman turned on her heel and began to walk away. Her casual stride angered Asriel. Growling, he yanked his curtains closed, threw open his bedroom door, and stormed down the stairs.

“I’m getting milk!” he called to Toriel to explain his going out.

Toriel, sitting in her reading chair in the living room, looked up from her book. “At this time of night? Asriel, I can just get some after church tomorrow. No need to go to the grocers this late.”

Waving a hand to act as if he wasn’t in a rush to leave the house, Asriel said, “Can’t have cereal without milk. Besides, it’s right down the street. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”

“Asriel, are you . . . doing okay?”

Now Asriel really had to pretend everything was all right. He tried to not show agitation to get outside and follow Frisk show as he told his mother, “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you haven’t seemed fine all week,” Toriel replied. “If anything, your behavior has been a little . . . strange. Think of today, for example. You run off without a word, leaving your phone on the kitchen floor so nobody can contact you, then you come home and won’t talk to me about what happened. That’s not normal behavior, Asriel, even for you.”

 _“Even for you.”_ The comment stung, but Asriel didn’t show it. Now was not the time to get into it either.

“Look, I’m sorry if I’m freaking you out,” Asriel said, palms up as if he was giving his mother a peace offering of sorts, “but I promise everything’s going to be okay. No need to worry.”

“But I _am_ worried.” Toriel closed her book and stood from her chair. “You and Chara were inseparable. Losing her hit you hard. So hard, I began to worry that I might lose another child. Now I’m beginning to worry again. Asriel, if there’s something you need to talk about—”

Asriel didn’t let her finish. Frisk had been stalking them again, and Asriel needed to catch up to the human before she could get away. Yet Toriel unknowingly was preventing Asriel from doing such. He needed to get away. Without thinking it through, Asriel said the words he knew would silence his mother.

“Now you want to talk? What about five years ago, when we first lost Chara? I needed to talk then! I needed both you and Dad to be there for Kris and me, but you weren’t. Instead of working through your grief together, you got a divorce. The worst part? You blame Dad for your marriage falling apart, but the divorce was your idea! In your grief, you abandoned the kids who needed you most. You can’t undo that kind of hurt. So don’t think that just because you’re willing to listen now undoes all the times you failed us before. Understand?”

Toriel’s eyes widened, and tears threatened to fall. She looked pale through her white fur. After a moment or two of wobbling, she collapsed back into her chair, her eyes remained locked on her son.

Spinning on his heel, Asriel fled the scene and ran out the door.

After he walked outside, Asriel’s eyes scanned the scene in search of Frisk. No sign of her. At least he knew the direction she began walking away.

Sprinting in hopes to cover more ground quicker, Asriel bolted down the street and out of the neighborhood. The town of New Home came into view. At this time of night, there weren’t as many monsters and humans out on the streets. This made finding Frisk easier. The human was just walking out of a shop when Asriel laid eyes on her.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Asriel snarled as he transitioned to a light jog in order to finish approaching Frisk. It took most of his self-control to keep his breathing steady.

At first Frisk flinched, then she frowned at Asriel. Holding up the bag in her hand, she calmly replied, “I’m picking up snacks for the train ride out of here.”

“Not that.” Asriel shook his head. “I meant your standing outside my house a few minutes ago, watching me like some sort of—”

“Wait,” Frisk interrupted, her brows furrowed, “I wasn’t outside of your house just now. Did you miss the part where I told you I just bought snacks?”

“Good cover story, but I’m not buying it.”

“It’s not a cover story!” Frisk sighed and looked away. “After keeping me miserable the whole time I visited, you can’t let me leave in peace either?”

“Hey, I’m not the villain here.” Asriel stood to his whole height, and as expected, Frisk shrunk away. “You’re the one stalking my family and putting my best friend in danger. I’m just the one trying to protect everyone from whatever it is you’re planning.”

Although Frisk still didn’t look Asriel in the eyes, he noticed her narrowing her eyes and huffing out a breath. “Okay, I admit it! Following Kris home from school was creepy. I feel bad about it, okay? But I really had no other plans than to meet you and return Chara’s locket. She wanted you to have it. After everything she and I have been through together, I couldn’t live with myself if I ignored that wish.

“But that’s it! Now that you have the locket back, I have no other plans to cross paths with you or your family ever again. So, why on earth would I be at your house if that’s the case? I’m leaving town, Asriel. Actually, if I don’t leave now to pick up my bags, I might miss my train _again_. I don’t mind missing it for Kidd, but I sure as hell don’t want to miss it for you when you’re the one who wants me to leave so badly.”

With that, Frisk tried to walk past Asriel. However, he wasn’t done with her. Asriel reached out and grabbed Frisk by the elbow, but he dropped his paw when Frisk flinched at his touch. The other night when he held her by the throat flashed in Asriel’s mind. As little as he trusted Frisk, there was no way Asriel would allow himself to go that far again.

“If that wasn’t you,” Asriel challenged, “even though there isn’t a doubt in my mind that it _was_ you, then who else would stand right outside my house?”

Frisk opened her mouth, but the only sound Asriel heard was a scream around the block.

For half a moment, all Frisk and Asriel did was look at each other. Then they both bolted towards the direction of the scream. Rounding the corner, both came to a halt at what they saw.

There was no other way to describe it than as a giant, white blob. It slithered and slunk through the streets, terrifying all the passersby in its path. Pedestrians ran away screaming. Drivers would stop to gawk for a moment or two before speeding away. Anytime the blob came across something in its way, it would screech and extend itself in a way that resembled a person slapping away something he didn’t want to see.

“What is that?!” Asriel shouted, his confrontation with Frisk forgotten.

“I don’t know,” Frisk said, and Asriel could see determination reflected in her honey eyes, “but we better do something before it hurts somebody.”

With that, Frisk rushed towards the scene. After a second debating whether to run towards the human or run away altogether, Asriel chased after Frisk. It appeared they weren’t the only ones confronting this strange creature.

“Get back, civilians!” Officer Undyne shouted as she summed one of her magic spears. Noticing it Asriel who also approached, she added, “This isn’t something you want to fight.”

“Do you know what that is?” Frisk asked, watching as the blob continued to make its way down the street.

Officer Undyne grit her teeth before she answered, “No idea, but it’s not like any monster I’ve ever seen. Hell, I don’t even think that _is_ a monster. No get back and go someplace safe!”

Without waiting for either Frisk or Asriel to respond, Officer Undyne charged forward and began attacking the creature. The thing cried out in pain as the spears pierced into it, or at least that’s how it sounded, and its shape wobbled. It seemed to turn what might have been its head to look at the cop stabbing it with the spears she manifested into reality.

Dumbstruck, Asriel watched as the thing opened a hole in its face and began firing bullets at Officer Undyne. Not expecting the attack, Officer Undyne was hit and thrown back a way. She cursed as she pushed herself to her feet then cursed again when she saw the creature began going on a rampage.

It went from destroying only things in its way to everything within reach. Windows were shattered and walls were smashed. The people inside those buildings screamed loud enough for Asriel to hear, and he could see some of them flocking the back of the stores in attempt to get to some illusion of safety.

Seeing the damage to the buildings reminded Asriel of Jen and Berry’s Nice Cream and what might happen to these buildings if the creature was left to its own devices.

“I don’t think it liked having its night stroll interrupted like that,” Frisk said, and Asriel turned to see her biting her lip as if she was having some sort of mental debate. Then, as if she forced the words out, “We need to lure it away from the town before anyone else gets hurt.”

“And how, exactly, do we lure it away?” Asriel asked, his heart beating in his chest.

Frisk answered before she ran after the blob, “We get it to chase us.”

Again Asriel considered cutting his losses and running home, but in the end he ran after Frisk. As little as he trusted the human, he had to admit she was right. Until Officer Undyne’s backup came, she was going to need all the help she could get if this threat was to have hopes of being controlled.

“I said get back!” Undyne shouted when she saw the two getting close.

“You can arrest us for disobeying orders later!” Frisk shouted. “Right now, we need to stop this thing before—”

The creature opened the hole in its face again and fired bullets at a shop window. The monsters inside cried out as they dropped to the ground.

Asriel watched as Officer Undyne summoned another spear and charged towards the blob. Shouting a battle cry, Officer Undyne stabbed into the creature. It cried out before turning its attention towards the fish monster. With one swift kick of what Asriel assumed was the creature’s leg, Officer Undyne went flying. She crashed into a building across the street so hard, there was a crater where she and the brick made impact.

Casting thought aside, Asriel summed his flames and threw a fireball at the blob. It shrieked before spinning around to lay eyes on Asriel. It growled at the fire burning in his palms.

“That is enough,” Asriel told the creature, his voice steady and his teeth bared. Without another word, he threw another fireball at the blob, then another. The thing wiggled and cried out, the sound agonizing. Asriel was getting the creature under control.

Or so he thought until the hole again appeared on its face and it began raining bigger, faster bullets than before towards the goat monster.

Feeling like a deer in the headlights, Asriel only had enough time to close his eyes and brace himself for the impact. It never came. He slowly cracked an eye open to see why the attack wasn’t hurting him.

Frisk stood in front of him, a red wall between her and the creature. When the bullets ceased firing, she dropped her hands, and the wall fell with them. Turning her attention towards Asriel, Frisk narrowed her scarlet eyes and said, “A good offense is nothing without a good defense. You should know better.”

Before Asriel could reply, Frisk looked back and the screeching creature and bared her teeth. “Well, we got its attention now. It would be best if we took advantage of our opportunity to lead it away.”

As the words left Frisk’s mouth, the creature began charging them. Wasting no time, Frisk and Asriel turned on their heels and ran. Whenever it rained more bullets at them, Frisk would summon her magic to create a protective barrier between them and the creature.

For a moment, the plan seemed to be working. Then they both fell backwards when the creature, which must have jumped over them from behind, landed right in front of them. Again the hole in its face opened, and magic bullets shot towards them for the umpteenth time.

Frisk barely managed to stand and summon her barrier in time. Gritting her teeth, Frisk dropped the wall as the attack ended. She snarled at the creature as she said, “If it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you’re going to get.”

To Asriel as he pushed himself upright, “Take the left, and I’ll take the right. The goal is still to get it away from town without hurting anyone, but it looks as if we might need to play a little rough while we’re at it.”

“What are you going to do—” Asriel cut himself off when he saw the weapons Frisk summoned.

Knives.

Red knives.

In each hand, Frisk held red knives that were just a little bigger than any kitchen knife Asriel had ever seen, each having a blade Asriel knew was sharper than it looked.

Before Asriel could process this any further, Frisk jumped into action. She sliced into the blob as she ran past, and the thing cried out in pain. It prepared another attack against Frisk, and Asriel snapped back into himself.

“Leave her alone!” he shouted as he jumped to his feet and once again summoned his flames to throw a fire ball at it.

As they ran out of town, Frisk and Asriel took turns attacking the creature. It was strange, Asriel noticed within the chase, that no matter how much they attacked the creature and how it shrieked as if in pain each time, no real damage seemed to be done to it. Asriel was certain neither of them could kill the creature if they wanted to try.

Leading the blob outside of the city limits, Frisk shouted as she rushed to Asriel’s side, “What’s taking the police so long?! Asriel, I think we’re going to have to hit it hard. We need an attack large enough to take this thing out, even for a minute.”

“And what do you suppose we do?” Asriel meant it sarcastically, but Frisk already had her answer ready.

“Star Blazing.”

It was enough to freeze Asriel where he stood. He hadn’t heard those words in a long, long time. Nobody else knew about that attack except—

“Hurry up while I keep our friend distracted!” Frisk snapped as she rushed towards the creature.

For a moment, all Asriel could do was watch Frisk fight the creature. The way she stepped to dodge, the way she wielded the blades to attack, the way she fought as if with reckless abandon but was actually three steps ahead of her opponent the whole time – Asriel seen this before. As strange as it was, this was as familiar to him as his own name.

“Go ahead, take your time!” the human shouted, forcing Asriel back to reality. “No rush or anything. Just my fighting this strange, living blob.”

Casting it all aside for the moment, Asriel gathered all his magical strength. For years, he practiced this move in secret in hopes to one day impress Chara with it whenever she returned from wherever she hid, revealing to Asriel that she never died after all. This was not the moment he always expected, but this would still be a worthy debut.

Asriel created a large star that fell towards the white blob like a meteor. Seeing the attack coming, Frisk quickly got out of the line of fire. It was as she fled the impact zone the creature noticed the oncoming attack.

It shot bullets towards the star, yet before they could hit, the star broke into hundreds of smaller stars. One by one they crashed into the creature. The stars fell so hard so fast, smoke began to rise up even as the creature wailed from within the attack.

When the last of the stars fell and the smoke cleared, Asriel saw the white blob had collapsed on the ground. It now had less shape than before. Asriel didn’t think he killed the creature, but he was comfortable enough to assume he knocked it out.

The relief washing over him, Asriel collapsed to his knees and began to pant.

“Damn, kid,” he heard Officer Undyne say. He didn’t look up to see her approaching. “I didn’t realize you had that kind of power in you.”

“Are you all right?” It was Frisk’s voice who asked the question.

“Being slammed into the wall hurt like hell, and it took me a minute to catch my breath, but I’m okay. Takes a lot more than that to bring me down.”

“So . . . are we going to be arrested for disobeying orders?”

“Hmm, nah,” Officer Undyne answered. “I’ll let this slide, but you better make sure that kid over there is okay. That attack looks like it took up a lot of power.”

Asriel wanted to give a snarky remark, but he couldn’t even lift his head. Practicing the attack always exhausted him, but actually using it for the first time sucked away more energy than he expected.

“Need a hand?”

Summoning his strength, Asriel looked up to see Frisk standing in front of him, hand stretched out. For a minute, Asriel hesitated. Then he reached out and accepted the offered hand.

After Frisk pulled Asriel to his feet, he studied her intently. If it made Frisk uncomfortable, she didn’t show it. She merely stood there, dropping Asriel’s hand and returning hers to her side.

It wasn’t possible, yet Asriel could find no other explanation for what he saw. Frisk’s red knives and her fighting style. The things she knew that made no sense for her to know. Her knowledge of Star Blazing, a move Asriel had only ever shown one other person. There was no way any of this should be possible, but looking into those scarlet eyes, Asriel found that he didn’t doubt it at all.

Yet the name still struggled to pass his lips. Asriel was afraid that if he said it, he would wake up from whatever dream he was in. With a strangled squeak, Asriel asked so much in the name.

“Chara?”

First she blinked, taken aback. Then she grinned. Somehow, it was that same troublemaker grin that should not have fit on Frisk’s face as well as it did.

“Greetings, Rei,” Chara said. “It has been a long time, has it not?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Frisk, that’s him!** a voice inside of Frisk’s head exclaimed when she recognized one of the monsters playing tennis with three others. **It’s Rei! Oh, he has grown so much! It looks as if my little brother isn’t so little anymore!**

Although there was a lot of excitement coursing within this soul with which she shared her body, Frisk picked up on the underlying sadness that flowed with it. Speaking without words, Frisk asked, _Chara, are you okay?_

 **I am . . . conflicted,** Chara answered from inside of Frisk’s mind. **After five years, I want nothing more than to see Asriel, yet I am too nervous to approach him.**

_He can’t know about you._

**I know, but if we could—**

_No. Nobody can know you’re here. You know that._

**Yes, I do. However, that will not stop me from wishing things were different.**

Not having a response, Frisk watched the tennis match without another thought. Chara joined in, talking to herself about what she was seeing. **Is that Bratty and Catty? Whoa, they used to hate each other, and now they look like best friends! And I would know Kidd anywhere. I can’t believe how tall he is now! Oh no, he’s not paying attention.**

Frisk and Chara both winced as they watched Kidd get hit in the head with the tennis ball.

 _That look like it really hurt,_ Frisk thought. _Do you think he’s all right?_

Humming to herself, Chara watched the two boys interact. **I think he’s fine. Kidd always had a thick skull.**

* * *

"Do you like flowers?"

Frisk had been listening to Chara rant about how much she hated it when others cut flowers away from their roots when Kidd’s question snapped her back to reality. Chara shut up while Frisk said the first thing to pop into her head.

"No. I mean, I like live flowers. Once you cut them for the sake of putting them in a vase, they're left with no other purpose than to wilt and die a slow death."

"That's . . . a little morbid."

 **You said it,** Chara agreed, but Frisk bit the inside of her cheek.

"I'm not really sure how much of that is my own opinion."

**Am I too forceful?**

_You are passionate, that’s for sure._

**That is a yes.**

_You know I don’t mean it like that._

"Well," Kidd began, "you'll definitely like Asgore then. He might not be against flower bouquets, but he does encourage potted plants to the point you have to talk him into letting you buy a bouquet."

 **Sounds like Dad.** Frisk could not deny the longing invading every fiber of her being at Chara’s desire to see her father again, even just once more in passing.

"One time, when we were kids,” Kidd continued, “Asgore came to our school and spoke to our class about responsibility and stuff. Our homework for that week was to take care of a flower – Asgore donated from his own garden. He returned a week later to evaluate the condition of our flowers. Yeah, turns out we weren't a very responsible class."

Chara provided a memory to go with the story, and Frisk couldn’t help but laugh at the poor results alongside Kidd’s words. "Wait, so the whole class let their flowers die?"

Kidd didn’t hesitate. "Yeah."

 **Um, excuse me,** Chara muttered.

As if could sense Chara’s thoughts, Kidd slowly said, "Well, all of us except this one girl. I think she had plant magic or something, because her flower was even bigger and prettier than when Asgore gave it to her! We all asked how she did it. I'll never forget her answer."

Although Frisk already knew the answer, she still smiled and asked, "Which was?"

Chara answered alongside Kidd.

**"'Water and sunlight, duh.'"**

* * *

"I can see that," Toriel said as Frisk helped put away the groceries at Chara’s old home. "I'm just a bit surprised you know where everything is."

**Uh, oh.**

Frisk froze in place with the gallon of milk in her grasp. Unable to take her eyes off Toriel, Frisk tried with no success to think up an excuse. None came to mind, and Chara wasn’t heling either.

**Why were you relying on my memory in the first place?**

_Kind of hard to ignore your memories when you’re taking a trip down memory lane._

**Now it appears as if you know this house as if you used to live here.**

_I do. That’s a result of sharing a mind. All your memories are mine, and all my memories are yours._

**Blame Mom for not reorganizing or redecorating this place once since I went missing.**

Knowing she had to say something eventually, Frisk finally tried, "I thought everyone put their groceries up the same way."

"Yes,” Toriel smiles, and Frisk felt embarrassed under Chara’s mother’s good-humored gaze, “but not everyone puts their bread in the fridge."

* * *

Chara, assuming control of Frisk’s body, felt as if she was not the one moving their shared fingers as she hung up the phone.

 _What was that?!_ Frisk exclaimed from the inside as Chara watched the last of Kidd’s phone’s battery drain, leaving the device to die in her palm. _Chara, do you have any idea how that sounded? Asriel’s going to think you murdered Kidd!_

**I’m sorry! I had what I was going to say scripted and everything, then I heard Rei’s voice and . . . I blanked. You know I am only good under pressure when it comes to fighting. Words, on the other hand, are not my strong suit.**

_You speak more formally than anyone I have ever met._

**The ability to speak formally does not compare to the ability to know what to say when caught off guard, my dear Frisk.**

_Just shut up and finish taking care of your plants. I can’t believe you bought so many._

**You could have stopped me.**

_Yeah, but you needed something to cheer you up. If it takes showing a dozen pots of flowers some much needed TLC, then so be it._

**Frisk, I truly do not deserve the kindness you never cease to show me.**

_Chara, you deserve more than a few stupid plants._

* * *

“Chara?”

Hearing her name – hearing her own brother not just say her name but _address_ her by name – surprised Chara into a stupor for a moment or two. Looking into Asriel’s eyes, Chara knew he didn’t see Frisk. Despite the brown skin and chocolate hair, Asriel looked into Chara’s scarlet eyes and saw _her_.

Frisk squirmed, her control over their shared body still surrendered. Letting anyone, including Asriel, know that Chara’s soul shared a body with Frisk’s was a dangerous thing. Yet Frisk kept quiet, letting Chara make the decision here. If Chara trusted Asriel, then so would Frisk. This might have been Frisk’s body, but it was Chara’s life too.

Finding it within herself to recreate her signature troublemaker grin on Frisk’s face, Chara said the words she had wanted to say since the moment she and Asriel were, unbeknownst to him, reunited.

“Greetings, Rei. It has been a long time, has it not?”

Chara watched as Asriel took a shuddering breath, struggling as if the very air was sucked from his lungs. He took a step forward, hand stretched out. “Chara,” he said again, whispering the name this time.

“I’m here,” Chara promised, then her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

It was too much. The sudden taking control of the body. The magic she exercised while fighting the strange white blob creature. The revelation that now Asriel knew she was still here and there would be no going back. Chara and Frisk’s knees gave out, and the two souls inside the one body fell to the ground as both fell into the realms of unconsciousness.

* * *

**Frisk?**

_. . ._

**Frisk, can you hear me?**

_I can hear you, Chara._

**Are you mad at me?**

_Of course not. You know I’m not mad at you._

**But you did not want Rei to know about me, did you?**

_It’s not that. After five years of keeping quiet about you to protect you, it feels odd to let someone else in on the secret, even if it is your brother._

**Asriel would never betray us. If he understood why you never told anyone about me, he would be just as tightlipped as you are. Rei would never, ever do anything to put me in danger.**

_I trust you, but what if he’s already told someone? We don’t know how long we’ve been out._

**. . . Good point. Well, I suppose there’s only one way to find out.**

_That there is._

**Um, Frisk?**

_Yes, Chara?_

**Would you please to be the one to wake up?**

* * *

Frisk - or maybe it was Chara, Asriel didn’t know anymore - was still unconscious. After she collapsed and Officer Undyne’s backup finally arrived, Asriel carried the passed out human home. Officer Undyne insisted Asriel take her to the hospital, but he returned that Frisk would be fine as long as she slept it off. It took much debating, but Officer Undyne finally let Asriel go.  
  
Now, as the night long passed and the morning slowly came to an end, Asriel hoped he was right. If Chara really was in there - no, Chara really was there, her consciousness somehow sharing a body with Frisk’s - he couldn’t risk anyone else finding out. Frisk wouldn’t have kept Chara’s presence a secret for five years unless she had good reasons.

Wringing his fingers as he sat on the chair across from the couch, Asriel’s head snapped up when he heard Frisk moan. The human twisted where she lied and rubbed her eyes. She was awake.  
  
“Chara?” Asriel asked, hopeful. Yet his hope deflated when the human opened her eyes and it was Frisk’s honey colored eyes looking back at him.  
  
“Frisk,” she answered although her frown indicated she was already aware of Asriel’s disappointment. Frisk looked around the living room. “Where are we?”  
  
“My house.” Asriel awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Mom and Kris are at church. They’re worried about you, or at least Mom is, but I assured Mom I would call her if necessary.”  
  
“What did you tell her?”  
  
“The truth. Officer Undyne did witness us fighting against that weird blob last night, and she’s friends with Dad. No lying our way out of that one.”  
  
“I meant about Chara.”  
  
“Oh . . .” Asriel bit his lip. “I didn’t say anything. There would be too many questions. Questions I can’t answer because I have questions of my own. . . .  
  
“Frisk, is . . . is Chara really in there? Is my sister, somehow someway, still alive inside of you?”  
  
Asriel watched as Frisk took a deep breath and pushed herself into a sitting position. For a moment, she played with her fingers. On her face was that expression implying she was having a mental debate.  
  
“You can hear her, can you?” Asriel asked, unsure what he wanted to be the answer.  
  
“Yes.” Frisk pointed at her temple. “By sharing a body, Chara and I more or less share a mind. Our thoughts are our own, but we both hear the other’s. Makes private conversations easy.”  
  
“But how . . . ?”  
  
“Are we sharing a body? Well,” Frisk bit her lower lip, “possession magic is to blame.”  
  
Asriel furrowed his brows.  
  
Powering forward, Frisk explained, “You see, Chara was already . . . um, gone by the time I was brought to the mountain. Yet somehow, my determination was able to awaken her soul from death.  
  
“For days, this ghost and I got to know each other. We collected things I pulled out of the dirt. I don’t believe words will ever express how much we helped each other through that time. . . . Then he—” Frisk hiccupped. “That man came for me. I was terrified. Soon, I would join Chara, my new best friend, in death. Then Chara did something unimaginable. She fused her soul with my body, and she was able to access the magic I never knew I had to fight back. When there was a chance, I escaped. Or Chara did. It’s all a blur.  
  
“It wasn’t until we made it back to town we realized what had happened. Chara and I were sharing my body. She was the one putting each foot in front of the other. I watched. Then she relinquished control, and I had control again. But she was still there. Has been ever since.”  
  
Too dumbstruck to speak, Asriel listened as Frisk talked about life with Chara sharing her body - how Frisk refused to speak for over a year in fear of accidentally revealing Chara’s presence, how the two girls took turns controlling Frisk’s body so Chara wouldn’t feel like a prisoner, how they spent years returning the items of the lost children to their respective families. This wasn’t real – it couldn’t be real. Yet Asriel wanted nothing more than to believe it was.  
  
Asriel wasn’t sure when Frisk stopped talking. For a moment, they watched each other. When Asriel tried to swallow, a lump in his throat made the action painful.  
  
“May I speak with her?” he finally found the courage to ask. “May I speak with my sister?”  
  
In answer, Frisk closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were scarlet. Those were Chara’s eyes.  
  
Grinning like a sinner, Chara - it was definitely Chara - said, “You know, Rei, I can hear everything you say even when Frisk is in control.”  
  
That may have been Frisk’s face Asriel saw and Frisk’s voice he heard, but it was indeed Chara who spoke to him. Overcome with emotion, Asriel covered his mouth and did nothing to restrain the oncoming tears.  
  
“I don’t have to assume control for you to talk to me,” Chara continued, speaking softly now. “Talking back, on the other hand, is a different story.”  
  
Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, Asriel felt the emotions wash over him. Chara was alive after all. Perhaps not in the way he expected, but still alive.  
  
Asriel trembled where he sat. Tears flowed unrestrained. His fingers curled into tight fists. He did nothing to hold back the cry that came out. He didn’t stop himself from bawling at the knowledge his best friend and sister wasn’t gone after all this time.  
  
“You always were such a crybaby.”  
  
As he choked back another sob, Asriel looked at Chara to see tears falling from her eyes. She slowly stood from the couch. It was with ease Chara moved the body that was not hers.  
  
“Chara.” Overtaken by the longing to hold his sister again, Asriel jumped to his feet. He approached her, arms open wide.  
  
Then a fist colliding with his jaw put an abrupt halt to his oncoming embrace.  
  
“That’s for threatening Frisk, choking her, and overall being a jerk,” Chara said, fist held in the air, her words taking a sharp tone. “I almost can’t believe you, Rei! Since when did you get so paranoid?”  
  
“Since five years ago.” Asriel didn’t intend to reply so harshly as he rubbed his jaw, but Chara nodded as if she understood. “Besides, Frisk’s strange behavior—”  
  
“Was all my doing, you dummy,” Chara interrupted. “Do you have any idea how hard it was approaching you after all this time? I did not know how to act around you, Rei. As much as nobody should know about my still being here, I wanted to tell you. You cannot begin to imagine how difficult it was keeping my very self from you.  
  
“Krissy, Mom, Dad . . . I tried for a week to approach Kris but could not bring myself to do it. While we were over, Frisk let me spend time with Mom, even if I wasn’t ‘myself.’ I do not know if I can manage to bring myself to have a proper conversation with Dad. . . .”  
  
“So, this whole time,” Asriel furrowed his brows, “it was you who was acting weird?”  
  
A small smile on the face she borrowed, Chara replied, “I was never great at social situations, was I not?”  
  
Shame at the truth crashing over him and realizing he needed to say the words, Asriel said, “Frisk - um, can she hear me?”  
  
“Frisk can hear you just fine.”  
  
“Okay. Erm, I’m sorry. For everything. I understand if you can’t forgive me—”  
  
“She forgives you.”  
  
“What?”  
  
Chara rolled her eyes and smiled as she said, “Frisk is too forgiving for her own good. Trust me, she couldn’t hold anything against you if she tried. I’m the one you have to worry about holding a grudge.”  
  
“You always knew how to never let anyone forget the consequences of their actions.” Swallowing, Asriel tried, “Chara, if you aren’t too mad at me, would you . . . ?”  
  
Asriel didn’t need to finish asking the questions. Smiling, Chara opened her arms and answered, “Come here, you big crybaby.”  
  
Unable to hold back, Asriel threw himself at the human and began to wail. Shoulders shaking from the force of his cries, he buried his face in her shoulder. Her arms wrapped around him, Chara soothed him with promises that she was here and that everything would be okay.  
  
For the first time in a long time, Asriel believed it would be.


End file.
